


Time waits for no one

by Rivvers



Series: Time Series [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Minor Angst, OFC - Freeform, Original Character - Freeform, Pregnancy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 15:40:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 50,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9278354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivvers/pseuds/Rivvers
Summary: Brooke and Alex grow closer as Alex’s pregnancy progresses. New surprises are in store for our heroes, not all of them good. Trust takes time to build, but it can be broken in an instant. Will they live happily ever after? Time waits for no one and sometimes... you just have to take a leap of faith.Warning – this will make no sense whatsoever unless you have read the first part of the series - ‘Time will Tell’(Note: the non-con and graphic violence archive warnings are for chapter 7 only)





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Brooke are back *Squee*
> 
> Brooke is mine; the rest, alas, is not.

Kara swept down onto Alex’s balcony, a huge smile on her face. She'd not long ago left Lena in her office after being told off for distracting her, yet again. She loved distracting her. She grinned even wider at the thought of the stolen kisses she’d managed to sneak in before Lena had affectionately shoved her out the door. Changing quickly into her Supergirl outfit, she’d done a quick sweep of the area to check all was quiet. It hadn’t taken long though before she’d craved company, wanting to share her good mood. Not having seen her sister or Brooke for a few days, and as night had only just fallen, she took a chance on flying to Alex’s. Hoping that they wouldn’t have started anything yet that might be therapy inducing if she happened to overhear them, she pauses on the balcony and gingerly tunes her hearing to the sounds within; ready to shut her ears down as soon as she hears anything gross. To her surprise, she hears the unmistakable sound of Alex crying softly. Frowning, she waits for a beat, assuming she’ll hear Brooke’s comforting murmurs any second. Funny, she hadn’t realised pregnancy mood swings would start this early. Although, Alex was coming up to five weeks, so maybe this was just her over achieving sister getting a head start, as per usual. It took a few seconds for Kara to realise there were no other sounds coming from the apartment. Alex was on her own. On her own, pregnant, and crying. Half a second after that and a whoosh of air later, Kara was seated on the sofa beside Alex.

“Alex?” Kara asked worriedly, “What’s wrong? What happened?” Rao knows their lives were dangerous at the best of times, but as far as Kara knew none of them were engaged in any missions at the moment. If something had happened to Brooke... Kara relaxed fractionally as she remembered Brooke was nearly as indestructible as she was. 

“Brooke… she…” Alex’s breath hitched as she tried to get her words out past her tears, “she’s gone…” 

Kara’s brow furrowed as she reconsidered her earlier thoughts. As indestructible as Brooke might be, that didn’t mean she couldn’t rain down a world of hurt on her if she had upped and left Alex when she was pregnant with her child.

“She’s gone out every night this week…I think she might not want this baby, or maybe me… anymore…Maybe she thinks I’m fat” Alex wailed. 

Kara relaxed slightly. Maybe just a mild scolding then instead of an ass kicking, she amended in her head. Super speeding to the kitchen, she grabbed the emergency ice cream and two spoons, zipping back before Alex had finished blowing her nose. 

“I’ve found that copious amounts of frozen dessert helps make literally _everything_ on this planet better!” Kara smiles, nudging Alex with her leg.

Letting out a half sob, half laugh, Alex curls up next to her, diving into the carton with abandon while she vents about Brooke being distracted all the time and always going out. Kara listens attentively, caught between worry over Brooke’s unusual behaviour and anger at her for hurting her sister. As Alex winds down and falls into a fitful sleep, Kara vows to find Brooke and figure out what was going on. This wasn’t like Brooke. She adored her sister, Kara knew she did; it was in every look, every gesture, every touch. Something else was going on. Gently carrying Alex to her bed, Kara returns to the balcony and launches herself into the night sky, determined to get to the bottom of this, for Alex’s sake.

 

**********

 

Brooke was perched on the edge of the old clock tower, her wings wrapped around her for comfort, rather than warmth. From where she squatted, she could see the wing tips of the bronze gargoyles below her that ringed the circular roof. Ironic that she now relegated herself to their ranks nightly, another winged monster. When she heard the familiar sound of someone flying through the air grow closer, she considered jumping and gliding away, for a moment. She sighs. This intervention had been a while coming. Might as well face it now.

Without looking over, she greets the figure alighting gently next to her.

“Hank, I promised I’d talk to her, ok? Stop pushing.”

Settling down, Hank swings his legs off the lip of the guttering and morphs into his human guise. Out of the corner of her eye, Brooke could see he hadn’t yet turned to face her, instead granting her a brief reprieve by studying the panoramic view of the city afforded by their lofty position. Grateful for his quiet support, she reaches out until her hand meets his, linking them together. They sit companionably, Hank seeming to be in no rush to leave. His patience eventually gives Brooke the courage to start the conversation.

“It’s been so long that I haven’t had to worry about it, you know? I’m not sure I know how to deal with it anymore. It kills me that this has happened now… it shouldn’t be possible Hank!”

“I know,” Hank acknowledges, squeezing her hand. Brooke bows her head as if a great weight is resting on her shoulders. Hank can see tears trickling down her cheeks. His heart hurts for her, but there's nothing he can do to make this easier. The tears gather at the curve of her chin, before gravity demands them and they fall, in what seems like slow motion, onto the unyielding concrete hundreds of feet below. For a second, just a second, Brooke wonders if she should just leave, if it would be better for them all, forgetting that she is still linked with Hank through their hands and he can hear her thoughts clearly. 

“Leaving won’t make it go away, Brooke. I know you're scared. We’ll deal with this together, I promise.” Hank reassures her.

A gasp from behind them makes both their heads snap around, instantly on alert. Brooke scrambles to her feet when she sees Kara standing behind them, her mouth open wide in shock and tears shimmering in the corner of her eyes.

“Kara? Is everything ok?” Brooke asks quickly, her concern rising the longer Kara just continues to stare at her. Hank’s brow furrows as he contemplates Kara’s body language, his eyes widening as he realises what’s going on a second too late to stop Kara running towards Brooke at lightning speed and punching her.

Hank misses catching Brooke’s unconscious body by a fingers width as she falls off the side of the building, plummeting down towards where her tears had already made tiny, darkened, damp spots on the pavement below. Hank leaps off after her, morphing into his Martian form, screaming at Kara that it wasn’t what she thought as he dives to try and catch her. Kara’s left standing on the roof alone, breathing heavily and shaking. She knew what she’d heard. It had sounded very much like Brooke regretted getting her sister pregnant. It sounded like she was getting ready to run away, to leave her sister, leave them all. Closing her burning eyes, her throat involuntarily tightens over the lump lodged there when she thinks about having to tell her sister. This will destroy her. Clenching her fists she digs her nails into her palms, creating crescent shaped welts; using the pain to stave off her own melt down. Alex wasn’t the only one who loved Brooke. This would destroy more than her sister. It would fracture their extended family forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My muse was not happy at being ignored for so long so she took it out on Brooke. Bad muse! :-O
> 
> All is not lost though, I promise...


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I couldn't leave you all hanging on that sharp of a cliff edge, so forgive any mistakes as I wanted to get this out fast. If you start to worry where the hell this chapter's going half way through, trust me and stick it out *winks*
> 
> Thanks to LOCISVU for giving me the line you were probably all thinking, hope you don't mind that I stole it ;)
> 
> R x

Kara stands frozen in indecision. She can hear wings beating below her and knows Brooke must have only been knocked out for seconds. As if reliving a nightmare, she keeps seeing her fist connecting with Brooke’s face. Her gut clenches. What was she thinking? Staring down at her boots she resists the urge to flee. Brooke might be about to break her sister's heart, but that doesn’t excuse _her_ behaviour. How could she have hit her? She feels the vibration of someone landing heavily on the roof. Taking a deep breath, she thinks through what she’ll say when she looks up. She’ll apologise for her own poor behaviour, then demand Brooke explain why she’s leaving Alex. Her breath hitches and a fierce pricking sensation behind her eyes forces her gaze downwards again. Shaking her head Kara lifts her hands to her face, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes and furiously trying to regain control of her emotions, needing to understand why she had over reacted. Sure, Brooke leaving Alex was awful, but it wasn’t like _she_ was getting abandoned. So why had she acted so out of character?

A second vibration reverberates through the roof followed by several heavy footsteps. Kara can feel Hank getting closer to her, can actually sense his fury preceding him. She curls her shoulders in on herself, trying to make herself smaller. Still, she can’t look up. 

“What the hell Kara?!”

“Hank, leave it…”

Silence.

Kara imagines Hank pausing mid-stride and turning to give Brooke an incredulous look. She knows she deserves everything he’s about to unleash on her for her actions. Supergirl is above petty violence. Or at least, she should be. Trembling slightly, Kara swallows heavily, she has never felt quite so far from her Superhero persona as she does right this second. She can hear Hank and Brooke muttering together, too low for even her to hear. A gust of wind tussles her hair and she realises Hank has given in to Brooke’s wishes and left. Great. Now she’s alone with the woman she just punched off a building and she has no idea what to say, or where to start, to even begin to put this right. Dropping her hands, she takes several deep, slow breaths.

“I’m sorry,” she manages to whisper, while completely failing to make eye contact. A pair of feet appear in her field of vision. Brooke stands in front of her, her boots bare millimetres from Kara’s. Holding her breath, Kara waits for Brooke’s justifiable anger.

“Kara, I'm sorry. I’m such an idiot…” Brooke sighs.

Kara’s not even sure she heard the murmured words correctly when a pair of arms enfold her in their embrace. Unable to comprehend consciously what’s happening, Kara’s body reacts automatically and snuggles deeper into the comfort and warmth. It takes a few minutes for her to realise Brooke’s arms are around her shoulders, Kara’s own arms wrapped tightly around Brooke’s back and her face buried in the side of her neck. Startled she pulls back to stare at Brooke, “Huh? What?”

“Eloquent as always Kara,” Brooke chuckles. Seeing Kara’s pained expression of bewilderment, Brooke’s mirth vanishes and she cups Kara’s face, looking into her eyes intensely.

“I’m not leaving you, Kara.”

Kara’s breathing stutters again, a single tear running onto Brooke’s hand, “I know you think that but, Brooke, if you leave Alex…Brooke, she’s my sister. I love her more than anything…” a strangled sob escapes.

“Listen to what I’m saying Kara. I’m not leaving. I'm not leaving Alex, and I’m not leaving _you_ either. Ever.”

Unable to look away from Brooke’s hypnotic gaze, Kara tries to analyse the overwhelming sense of relief she feels flooding every atom of her being. She sees a faint smile hover over Brooke’s mouth. Sees unending patience and love in her gaze as she waits for Kara to figure out something she obviously already thinks she knows. What that might be Kara can’t even fathom right now, lost in the sensation of being inexplicably saved from drowning even though she’s on dry land. Giving into the feeling, she sags in Brooke’s arms while her thoughts race, trying to figure out why having Brooke in her life, as well as Alex’s of course, means so much to her. She can feel herself slowly relaxing, right up until her head starts going to a scary place where she worries she has feelings for her sister’s baby momma that she really shouldn't be having. Is that why she’s so desperate to keep her in her life? No! She likes Lena. Like, _more ___than likes her, considering what they were doing in her office earlier. She’s never thought of Brooke that way, has she?

“Oh my God, Kara. Stop already. You’re making my head hurt. How are you this obtuse? I’m happy to be a part of your family and I will never abandon you, ok?” Brooke exclaims, pushing Kara away to look at her again.

Like a storm clearing after a heavy downpour, Kara starts to smile. Family. Brooke was her family. Like a sister, but more. Like a mentor, but more. More aunt than mother, but definitely an important addition to the tapestry of Kara’s family. One she had become increasingly fond of... she could share so much with her; flying, their need to help people, their sense of humour, a love of food. Beyond all of that, Kara felt safe with her. She could let her guard down and just be Kara Zor-El with her. Brooke didn't judge, didn't assume, didn't lecture. She could talk to her about anything, absolutely anything… even red kryptonite thoughts, as Kara had labelled them. The thoughts that she was ashamed of. The thoughts that stemmed from that tiny little voice in the deepest recesses of your mind. The voice that whispered dark things in the dead of night. The voice that made your sister cry. Brooke listened, didn’t judge, and somehow... made everything better. 

“My family!” breathed Kara.

“Family.” Brooke agreed with a wide smile. “Speaking of which, I sent Hank to Alex’s so we’d better get there before her imagination has us both dead in an alley somewhere and she flays Hank alive for leaving us.”

“Oh, she was crying. I popped in to see you both and she was crying. That’s why I came to find you,” Kara rushed to try and explain the start of the whole mess. Wanting to at least warn Brooke before they had to go and face her distressed, and possibly well-armed, pregnant girlfriend.

Rolling her eyes, Brooke’s tone changed to that of a long-suffering, hen-pecked partner, “Let me guess… Something along the lines of ‘Brooke goes out every night and leaves me all alone, woe is me’, or ‘Brooke thinks I’m fat and unattractive now I’m pregnant, I can’t help it if I'm putting weight on, it’s her damn baby!’ am I close?”

Kara’s mouth drops open, “Erm, yeah, pretty much nailed it...” she admits, squirming at how monstrously she had handled what was obviously a nightly occurrence thanks to Alex’s elevated hormones.

Brooke correctly interprets Kara’s blush of guilt, “Don’t worry Kara, she had me begging forgiveness for things that had happened in other countries the other night,” pressing a gentle kiss to Kara’s forehead, she adds, “besides, although the way it happened wasn’t ideal, we needed this conversation. So, it’s all good.”

“Wow! And everyone thinks I'm the only overly cheerful, eternal optimist in this family” Kara snorts, imitating Brooke’s graceful swan dive off the building before soaring back up into the air amidst Brooke's peals of laughter.

 

**********

 

Entering the apartment through the open balcony door, Brooke and Kara freeze at the sight of Alex pacing up and down the lounge; her arms crossed, frowning pensively. Glancing at Hank for a hint as to which way the wind was blowing, Brooke sidles towards her lover, hoping her pleasure at seeing her home would overcome her irritation. No such luck. As soon as Alex catches site of her, she spins to face her, her hands coming to settle on her hips in a position Brooke had come to dread lately.

“First of all, you leave me home alone again," she starts, her voice deceptively mild and calm, "Then, Hank swoops in to tell me you and Kara are working something out, which pisses me off even more because how come she gets to know what the hell you’re up to but I don’t? Then, you breeze in with a bloody nose and act like everything’s fine? Well, it’s not fine!” Alex rants, her voice rising until by the end, she's shouting at Brooke from less than three feet away. Eyebrows so high they were at risk of disappearing into her hairline, Kara side steps around them, edging towards Hank. Unable to draw her eyes away, she watches to see how Brooke will handle this new and explosive version of her sister.

“Alex, I’m so sorry I left you alone again. Kara and I just had a misunderstanding, honestly. It’s sorted and my nose is fine.”

“A misunderstanding? A misunderstanding that resulted in you somehow getting a bloody nose? Did you ever stop to think that maybe if you weren’t keeping secrets, there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings? Hmm? And maybe, just maybe, if you didn’t treat the pregnant lady like she’s made of porcelain, you wouldn’t have to keep secrets in the first place?”

Brooke shrinks back from the tirade until her knees hit the sofa and she falls backwards. Kara makes the fatal error of trying to lighten the mood. Not used to seeing Alex like this, she feels she has to come to Brooke's rescue, “Want me to knock you out again?” She jokes.

Frowning when she sees Brooke wince, she soon realises her mistake when she becomes the new target of her sister’s ire. Alex pursues her into the kitchen area, finger raised and poking her in the chest as she rapidly fires off questions and scolds her in equal measure. Backing up until she is against the kitchen counter, Kara bends backwards in a vain effort to get further away from Alex without actually going into another room. She sees Brooke over Alex’s shoulder, approaching her partner carefully, like the slightest wrong step could ignite a powder keg. When Alex bursts into tears, Brooke is there to gather her into her arms less than a second later, giving Kara a helpless look over Alex's head as she sobs into her chest.

Out of the corner of her eye Kara sees Hank edging towards the front door. With a burst of super speed she passes him, blocking the exit, “Oh no you don’t, you’re staying right here. We are getting to the bottom of these mystery meetings, that you have _obviously_ been a part of, tonight! Or I’ll… I’ll…” Kara flounders for a suitably harsh threat, “Or I’ll sing every report to you, in harmony with Winn, every single day, from now until the baby is born!”

Hank hesitates, weighing up whether Kara means it. Evidently, she looks either serious enough, or desperate enough, that he believes her. He retreats to the other side of the lounge, huffing to himself. Kara sees Brooke pick Alex up and take her to their room and she takes the opportunity the moment of calm affords to make a beeline for the kitchen. She needs comfort calories, stat.

 

**********

 

Brooke lays with Alex, side by side on the bed. Rubbing her back she peppers her head and face with sweet kisses. Eventually, Alex sits up, rubbing her tears away and twisting to face Brooke to kiss her in return.

“When will these damn hormones settle down? This rollercoaster is exhausting!” she sighs.

“From your lips to God’s ears, sweetheart,” Brooke snickers, even as Alex half-heartedly swats at her in mock annoyance. 

Alex pulls Brooke closer, relaxing back into her and breathing in her comforting scent, “I’m sorry Brooke," she sighs, "I know my moods are a nightmare to put up with at the moment. It’s like watching a car crash; I can see it coming, but I can’t seem to do anything to stop it.”

Nuzzling the curve of her neck, Brooke makes sympathetic noises before lifting her head. Alex can see a look of contemplation on her face and raises her eyebrow inquisitively. Smiling sheepishly, Brooke kisses her so tenderly Alex feels like she could melt, “You’re right though, we should have been more honest with you about what we’ve been discussing," it was Brooke's turn to sigh, "You know how I like to protect the people I love and pretend I’m too tough to need anyone. I’m sorry for shutting you out.” Brooke admits.

Lifting her easily and setting her on her feet, Brooke leans in for another peck. A twinkle of mischief in Brooke’s eyes warns Alex seconds before she smirks and darts towards to the door, adding, “And treating you like porcelain just because you’ve gone a little cray-cray isn’t fair either, I see that now….” Alex’s mouth drops open and she yells an incoherent response as she springs after her, intent on recruiting Kara to hold her down while she tortures her incredibly ticklish feet until she begs forgiveness. 

Hank hears Alex and Brooke yelling and looks towards them in concern, before seeing Kara pounce on Brooke as she runs back through the lounge, squealing with laughter. Shaking his head, he casts his eyes heavenwards, beseeching his ancestors for strength even as Alex starts to yank Brooke’s boots off. It was going to be a long, long night... and they hadn’t even told them about the suspected Demon yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sleep? *Pffft* Who needs sleep just cos they've got work in six hours?! (Way too tired to proof read over and over, so apologies for all the mistakes :-O)
> 
> #wishesthiscountedaswork :(

Hank sat in the armchair at the far side of the lounge, eyes fixed on the mug beween his hands. Kara sat on the end of the sofa nearest him with Brooke in the middle and Alex at the other end. A sense of anticipation and unease remained, despite the earlier epic tickle fight that Brooke had lost, spectacularly. Brooke was leaning forward with her arms resting on her thighs, staring down into a cup of tea clasped between her hands. Her frame was rigid with tension. Hank looked up every now and then to glance at her. Every time he saw she hadn’t moved, a minute frown would appear momentarily, and he looked down again. Alex had been waiting patiently for the last five minutes for either Brooke or Hank to start talking and, much as she wanted to be sensitive to Brooke’s obvious distress, her patience was wearing thin.

“Rao, it can’t be that bad…What’s going on guys?”

“Will one of you just tell us what’s going on for God’s sake?”

Glancing at each other behind Brooke’s hunched back, the sisters share a sheepish smile. Patience had never been a virtue that either of them could have claimed. Hank looks over at them, his eyes sliding towards Brooke. Alex sees his shoulders rise imperceptibly and drop again, she smiles crookedly at him, catching onto the fact that he felt it was Brooke’s place to tell them, not his. Putting her arm out across the back of the sofa she squeezes Kara’s arm to gain her attention, nodding towards Brooke and shaking her head slightly. Kara’s brow smooths out and she nods to show she gets it. Leaning further towards Hank, Kara starts a quiet conversation about tomorrows planned sweeps. Bringing her head closer to Brooke’s, Alex runs her hand up and down her curved back. Pressing a gentle kiss to her temple she sees Brooke’s eyes close tightly, like she’s holding back tears. “Brooke? Please tell me what’s wrong. I know you’re obviously worried about whatever it is, but together, we can face anything.”

Brooke lets out a long breath, running a hand shakily down her face. Opening her eyes, she slowly turns her head to face Alex. She looks exhausted, drawn; shockingly so considering a short time ago they were having fun teasing each other. Alex’s hand stills on her back. What the hell could have that profound an effect on her just from thinking about it?

“That’s the problem, Alex. If this is what I think it is, none of you can help. I’m the only one that stands a chance against it, and that terrifies me. Because if I fail, I’m dead. And if I’m dead, then there’s no one else on this planet that can stop it!”

The conversation between Hank and Kara had trailed off and Alex can see Kara is staring at Brooke, frowning deeply again.

“What are you talking about, Brooke? There’s nothing on this planet I can’t handle,” rather than coming across as indignant, Kara sounds more confused than anything else. Brooke doesn’t respond, going back to staring at her tea, like she could find the answer in the swirls of steam rising languidly into the air. Alex just keeps looking at Hank, analysing his face. He was looking at Brooke in a way that felt familiar to Alex. Like he felt sorry for her maybe? No, it wasn’t quite pity. Concern maybe? Alex’s breath stutters slightly. He was worried about her, like he worried about her and Kara. Worried about Brooke’s safety. But, Brooke was practically indestructible, like Kara. "Hank? Tell me, right now, what is out there and why can’t we help stop it?!”

Lifting his eyes wearily, Hank looks directly at Brooke. When it seems apparent that she wasn’t about to jump in and had conceded the field to him, he gives in, "Five nights ago, when you were both out dealing with that rogue Alien robbing tourists at the dock, Brooke collapsed at the DEO,” holding his hand up to stop both of them from interrupting, Hank quickly continues, “she didn’t lose consciousness, and as soon as she regained her faculties she asked for a private meeting with me. She begged me to keep it classified for now, until we were sure.”

Kara couldn’t help herself and blurted out, “Sure about what?”

Hank closes his eyes, his chin dropping towards his chest like he was shouldering the same burden that was also weighing down Brooke, “Until we were sure that Brooke, for the first time since she’s been in this universe, had sensed a Demon.”

Alex and Kara exchanged disbelieving looks. When they had first heard Brooke’s origin story, every time she had used that word, ‘Demon’, they had just automatically transposed it with ‘Alien’. Even Hank had been sceptical. Now though, it seemed he had been converted to being a believer. Alex felt an uncomfortable sensation in her guts, like they were twisting themselves into knots. Hank wouldn’t accept anything at face value. For him and Brooke to both be acting like the sky had just fallen, there must be some truth in what they were saying, and it must mean it was very bad news. Seeing Kara look between them both and swallow hard, she knew she had come to the same conclusions. Wiping suddenly clammy hands on her jeans, she reaches over to take one of Brooke’s hands in her own.

“Brooke, tell us everything. Please. We need to know what’s coming.”

Squeezing Alex’s hand tightly, like it was her anchor, Brooke nods, sliding backwards until her back is resting against Alex’s arm on the back of the sofa. She nods sharply again, as if to herself, and looks Alex in the eyes. Seeming to take strength from whatever she finds waiting for her in her lover’s gaze, she puts her mug down and leans back into Alex slightly, twisting to face Kara and Hank more.

“You know how I can sense intentions, both good and bad, in the people around me?” Brooke waits for everyone to acknowledge her empathic abilities, “Well, with people and aliens, it’s like an echo of their feelings. Unless I’m close, and the feeling is really strong, it’s a bit like catching a glimpse of someone out of the corner of your eye. When I’m touching someone,” Brooke raises Alex’s hand to her lips, kissing it gently and smiling, “then I can feel everything, which sometimes makes me the luckiest person in the world.” Alex smiles in turn and presses her lips to the back of Brooke’s neck, causing Brooke to turn and face her to plant a kiss right on her lips, eliciting a sweet smile from her sister even as she calls them out for being sappy.

Turning back to face the others, Brooke continues with a slight waiver in her tone that wasn’t there before, “No matter how bad a person’s intentions are, or how malicious their thoughts, they’re always tempered by their humanity, or in the case of Aliens, by their own societal and cultural norms. Even those you think the most cruel or evil, there’s always more than just that darkness inside them. They have free will, and they always have a choice, which is why they can never be considered as just pure evil.” 

Brooke stops for a moment, hunching over and taking deep breaths. Alex knows she is thinking about Lillian Luthor, that what she did plagues her dreams and weighs on her conscience heavily. To Alex, it was a death that was at worst, unfortunate, and at best, justified, seeing as how Lillian tried to kill her, painfully and slowly. She knows Brooke still feels horribly guilty over it though. When Alex had brought it up with Kara, she told Alex she felt the same about Non and Kelly. Alex had pointed out that Non was actively trying to kill her when Kara killed him, and that _he_ had murdered Kelly, whereas Brooke had snapped Lillian’s neck in cold blood. Kara had just shrugged and said ‘guilt was guilt, no matter how you got there’. Alex supposes it’s similar to how she feels about having killed Astra. Sighing internally, she wishes their lives were different. It would be nice to have less violence, less regrets, to have to deal with all the time. Alex tightens her hold even further on her partner as she listens, knowing that there would likely be more they would have to bear yet.

“Five days ago, I felt pure evil for the first time since the day I killed the Demon that came through the portal with me. Before you ask, I am absolutely certain, it’s an unmistakable feeling. I swore Hank to secrecy for two reasons. Firstly, I can’t pinpoint it. I didn’t see the point in worrying you all when it’s not even a threat yet. It’s either very far away and creeping fractionally closer each day, or it’s close by but very weak and gaining strength fractionally each day.”

“And the second reason?” Kara asked hesitantly, not sure she wanted to know.

“Secondly… it can’t be harmed by anything in heaven or on earth.” Brooke sounded so despondent Kara recoiled slightly, eyes opening wide. Alex could hear the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece in the silence that followed that declaration. She exchanged worried glances with Kara.

Hank finally lifted his head and spoke up, “I’ve seen Brooke’s thoughts and memories. When she came through the portal five years ago, the Demon had beaten her here by a few minutes, the army had already engaged it. No weapon could touch it, not missiles, not bullets, not even fists when the soldiers got desperate. It was like it wasn’t even there, everything just passed through it like it was made of smoke. At the time, I thought maybe it was an alien with the power to phase, I didn’t realise that’s just a small part of a Demon’s power. Nothing on heaven or on earth can touch it. Apart from Brooke. So if this Demon that Brooke senses gets closer? Or stronger? There’s nothing any of us can do, except watch Brooke fight it. Alone.”

Alex could feel every muscle in Brooke’s body was taut with anxiety. While Kara peppered Hank with questions about 'what if’s?' and 'maybe’s' that he shot down one after the other, she sat and processed. Brooke was one of the bravest, most courageous women she knew, yet she was already brought down by just the thought of this Demon being here. She was missing something. Alex applied her logical, scientist brain to the conundrum as she pulled Brooke closer, helpless to not offer comfort even as she fumed internally at Brooke for still holding something back from her.

Eventually, Brooke claimed tiredness and hinted that they should call it a night. Hank agreed and forcefully pushed Kara towards the door, promising that they would pick it up again at the DEO the next day. Alex kissed her sister and said goodnight to Hank distractedly, not really listening to their banter as they said their goodbyes, preoccupied with her worry over Brooke. She was definitely not herself. Alex had gotten used to her permanently rosy outlook on life; her quick humour and ever present empathy and compassion. This quiet, drawn version of her lover filled Alex with foreboding.

 

**********

 

Curling up next to Brooke in bed, Alex propped herself up on one elbow to allow her to look at her lover’s face. Brooke was lying on her back, her arms loosely by her sides, staring at the ceiling.

“Brooke? Please talk to me…” Alex pleaded again, desperate for Brooke to let her in, let her help.

Slowly turning her head on the pillow, Brooke raises her right hand to gently stroke Alex’s cheek, “You’re so beautiful Alex. All of you, every single part, inside and out. How’d I ever get this lucky?”

Smiling, Alex ducks her head slightly to drop a kiss on Brooke’s palm. Lifting her own hand, she paints invisible lines across Brooke’s brow, her cheeks, chin, lips; chasing her fingertips with butterfly kisses. A single tear appears and slowly tracks down the side of Brooke’s face, leaving a silvery trail from the corner of her eye, down over her ear, to finally get lost in the hair splayed across the pillow. Pulling back slightly, Alex sees how intently Brooke is staring at her. Like she’s trying to memorise every freckle, every curve, every line. Like she won’t get the chance to see them ever again. A lightbulb goes off in Alex’s head as she realises what’s going on with Brooke, what she’s worried about. Returning her gaze, something primal stirs in Alex. A fierce need to protect, to nurture, to love. Leaning forward, she presses her lips against Brooke’s, pouring everything she feels for her into a slow, sensual kiss. Not demanding anything in return, trying only to give. Reluctantly, she leaves her mouth and ghosts her lips across the bridge of her nose, pressing gentle kisses to her eyelids, her temples, her jawline. Each kiss achingly slow, achingly tender; filled with love and promise. Pushing up, Alex resettles herself over Brooke, propping herself up on either side of her with her elbows. Cupping her face, she meets Brooke’s eyes once again. The connection she feels through their gaze alone is electric, more powerful than all the love sonnets in the world. In her eyes, she sees the fear Brooke’s been holding in since her discovery. Fear of losing this, losing her. Fear of losing this family they’ve found together, of losing the family they’ve created together. 

Her heart clenches in sympathy and Alex renews her kisses, determined to show Brooke how much faith she has in her, how much she loves her and believes in her. Leaving not one inch of Brooke’s skin free of her touch, she builds Brooke’s arousal bit by bit, moment by moment. Pausing often for one or the other of them to shed tears, or hold each other in awe, or gaze into each other’s eyes to affirm their connection once more. Pausing over and over to retreat from overwhelming heat, only to slowly stoke the fire, again and again. Finally, they topple over the edge, finding sweet release together; Alex helplessly calling out her pleasure, only for Brooke to capture it in her mouth and whisper awed entreaties in return, filled with words like ‘love’ and ‘forever’.

Curling into one another, Brooke whispers, “I can’t lose you Alex, you’re my heart. Without you, I can’t be me.”

Alex grasps the back of Brooke’s head, holding her firmly, and whispers back fiercely, “You’re not going to lose anyone, we will find a way Brooke, all of us. We’ll defeat it, and we will raise our daughter together, and we will be so happy we’ll have to pinch ourselves every day, just to check we aren’t dreaming.”

Letting out an explosive breath that sounds halfway like a sob, Brooke pulls Alex impossibly closer, nuzzling her ear. Laughing quietly, she whispers once more before falling into a fitful sleep, “From your lips to God’s ears, sweetheart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick question... those of you that have read Time will Tell will know where Brooke comes from (and FYI, if you haven't read TWT, then this story will seem verrrry wierd! Just saying :P) so, what do you think about a crossover to deal with this pesky Demon? Or, should I keep it in this universe only? And if a cross-over is popular, then please can someone figure out how the hell they go and get help seeing as how Kara didn't go with Flash to get the thingybob from Cisco that lets her jump to different Earths in my world?? :-/ 
> 
> Thanks y'all :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed some light relief after all the angst in the first few chapters. Enjoy, R x

Alex swept into the main command centre at the DEO like she was on a mission. Even those agents that didn’t know her that well ducked and covered as fast as they could. Winn gulped and tried to look utterly absorbed in his computer screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Alex come to a jarring halt right next to his desk. She had one hand on her hip and one hand leaning on the desk right next to his keyboard. Feigning ignorance as to her presence, he hit random letters on his keyboard, hoping against hope that she’d move on and terrorise someone else.

“Winn?”

“Hmmm?” his attempt at nonchalance fails when he feels her forefinger - a rigid, scary, pain-promising forefinger - poke him under the chin and pull his head around. Finally meeting Alex’s gaze, he swallows again. That raised eyebrow and those pursed lips promise nothing good in his immediate future. Silently, he starts praying to whatever deity is listening for Kara or Brooke to show up and save him.

“Winn, where is Hank?”

“H…Hank? He’s out in the field I th…think…” 

Winn frantically arches his back as Alex leans in closer, reaching towards his ear, forefinger outstretched. Winn closes his eyes and waits for the pain to start, berating himself for not running when he had the chance. Alex removes his earpiece and uses it to connect to Hank’s. Winn’s brow furrows, unsure as to why she’s using his equipment instead of her own embedded model.

“Hank? This is Alex. I’m going to ask you a question, and you are going to answer it, because if you ignore me again… I’m going to hack your computer and send every single agent on a week-long jaunt to Metropolis, understand me?” Alex waits a beat, smiling vaguely at Winn’s slack jawed expression, “Good answer Hank. My question is, who the hell took me off field duty?”

Winn saw Brooke land on the balcony and enter through the sliding glass doors, whistling like she didn’t have a care in the world. A paper bag from Noonan’s dangled from one hand and the other held a book that her eyes seemed glued to. Which was unfortunate as she missed Winn’s frantic hand gestures trying to warn her to save herself. As she got closer, Alex spun around, fixing her with what Brooke and Kara had secretly dubbed her ‘death glare’. Through some kind of self-preserving partner osmosis, Brooke raises her head, aware on some level that all was not right in the world.

“Sweetheart? Everything ok?” she queries, hesitantly.

“What the hell? You told Hank to ground me?” snaps Alex.

Brooke quickly glances at Winn, trying to gather more intel to help navigate the oncoming minefield. Winn just shakes his head sadly at her. “What? No! He asked me if he should, and I said _‘feel free, but you’re telling her’_ ,” she snaps back, backing into the table and dropping the bag and book, possibly to make sure she had her hands free, just in case. Alex was mighty unpredictable lately.

“So you did, in effect, tell him to ground me then?!”

“I was being sarcastic, it wasn’t an instruction!”

“Well, I blame you!” Alex crosses her arms in front of her and stares at Brooke. Which, to Brooke’s expert eye, is a step down from a red alert, so she starts to creep closer, her tone cajoling, “Is it really a bad thing, sweetheart? Really?”

“I read that most women work right up until a few weeks before their due date. I’m only seven weeks pregnant! This is excessively protective, even for all of you!” Alex complains.

“Well, most women don’t go to work and leap out of moving cars and get shot at on a regular basis, to be fair…”

Seeing Alex’s eyebrows slam down and the pout take up residence again, Brooke knows she blew it, “I can still handle the field! I’ll prove it. Training room, now…” stabbing her finger at Brooke she gives the pair of them one last glare before she storms off, obviously expecting Brooke to follow, muttering about how she can still kick ass, pregnant or not.

Letting out a breath, Winn spins his chair to face Brooke, looking confused when she lets out a heartfelt groan, “Hey, it’s all good. Just let her win and she’ll be happy, non-scary Alex again…”

“Yeah, right! If I let her win, she’ll insist she’s able to go out in the field and then Kara and Hank will give me hell every day she’s out there. But, if I beat her, I’ll never hear the end of it from it her and I’ll probably have to sleep on the sofa until after our child is born.” Brooke flops into a chair next to Winn and lets her head drop into her hands, “Oh God, there’s no way to end this well!” Jumping up so fast she startles him, she grabs Winn by the collar, shaking him slightly, “Quick… shoot me in the head… it’ll take me a few hours to recover and by then she’ll hate you for shooting me and I’ll be golden again…”

“Did I just hear you asking Winn to shoot you in the head?” Kara asks as she lands lightly besides them, confusion painted across her face.

“Alex…” mutters Brooke, blushing.

Kara rolls her eyes, “She found out we grounded her, didn’t she?”

“We?” Brooke asks in a strangled tone, “There is no we! _You_ did this, _you_ can go and face her!”

Kara sighs, “You’re both cowards,” she retorts, poking her tongue out at them.

“Err, hello? Frail human here?” Winn says, holding his hand up.

Kara laughs at him, then raises an eyebrow at Brooke, “What’s your excuse?”

Gathering her items up from the table, Brooke starts sidling towards Hank’s office, smirking, “I have to live with her…”

 

**********

 

Brooke sighs with happiness, watching Alex wolf down the sweet and salty popcorn she’d picked up at Noonan’s to satisfy yet another random pregnancy craving. She loved looking out over the city from the roof of the DEO, having Alex beside her in a good mood again was just the icing on the cake. Alex had somehow managed to blackmail Kara enough to be able to guilt her in to agreeing to light field duties, up until the end of her second trimester at least. Brooke pondered what could have happened at college that was so bad it had Kara begging Alex not to tell Eliza and Jeremiah. 

Alex finishes gorging herself and brushes her hands together to get rid of the crumbs. Getting up, she immediately sits down behind Brooke again, stretching her legs out either side of her hips and wrapping her arms around her waist from behind. Brooke looks over her shoulder at her, smiling quizzically, “You’ve been spooning me a lot lately, I thought you liked being held?”

“I won’t be able to do this for much longer, not until bump’s born anyway. Indulge me.” Alex smiles, nuzzling into the curve of Brooke’s neck.

Brooke snorts quietly, “If you keep calling our baby ‘bump’, she’s gonna get stuck with it. You know what Kara and Winn are like, they’ll have made baby-grows with ‘Bump’ embroidered across them before you know it.” Alex chuckles along with her. They’d talked baby names only once before, both of them liking the idea of waiting to see what she looked like before settling on one. Running her hands up and down Brooke’s torso, Alex continued nuzzling her, her nose pressing into Brooke’s neck and ear just enough that she shivered slightly. She could tell Brooke’s mind was elsewhere though, again.

“Penny for them?” she sighs.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking,” Brooke sits up and swivels round on her butt to face Alex, her brow creased in concentration, “I think I need to talk to Hank. Alex, do you think Hank would help me get some ID sorted? Like he did for Mon-el? I need to be legit before this baby comes… I want to provide for us, properly” she says earnestly. Rolling her eyes at herself, Alex realises she was on a very different page to Brooke and resigns herself to waiting until they’re home to pounce on her. These baby hormones definitely increased her libido. Although they also simultaneously made her breasts too sore to touch, which Brooke said was like heaven and hell all at the same time. Crossing her legs in imitation of her partner, she settles in for a serious chat.

“Babe, I think Hank would do anything, for any one of us. But,” Alex looks down at her clasped hands resting in her lap, “Why don’t you want to work here anymore? Is it me?” she asks in a quiet voice. She can feel Brooke watching her intently. A pair of large, warm hands cup her face and Brooke leans in to steal a kiss. “I would love to work here with you Alex, I just, I didn’t want to presume.” When Alex looks up, not sure where Brooke’s coming from she sees Brooke smile self-depreciatingly and laugh a little, “I thought… Alex, we’re together every night, and I pop in here most days anyway, I didn’t want you to get sick of me…But, aside from that, I also need to earn money sweetheart. I can’t let you pay for everything”

“Why would I need to pay for everything?”

“Well, if I was here full time I couldn’t have another job, like Kara. I don’t mind doing two jobs, being part-time here… but, I can’t get hired anywhere else if I don’t have an ID that stands up to scrutiny and a social security number.”

Alex stares at Brooke for a second, then takes a moment to kiss the breath out of her, “You’re an idiot,” she sees Brooke start to frown and quickly continues speaking, “I always want to be with you. Kara doesn’t want to be in the DEO full time and she won’t let Hank pay her because she has her job at Catco. But if you wanted to be a full-time, paid member of DEO staff, Hank would totally jump at the chance!” She can see the light starting to dawn in Brooke’s eyes, “And, while I appreciate you trying to allow me space, trust that I’ll ask if I need it?” she finishes, smiling sardonically at her foolish lover, who nods sheepishly in return.

Spinning Brooke back around, she pulls her back into her chest, determined to watch the sunset with her before they get off the roof.

“Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you…”

“I love you too, idiot,” Alex grins when Brooke lets her get the last word for once.

**********

 

Brooke reached up to get the big bowls down from the cupboard, smirking at Alex who was rubbing her back and pouting. Dropping a kiss on her mouth as she passes, she breaks open the many packets of chips she’d grabbed on the way home and starts filling the bowls, ready for the bottomless pit known as Kara to come over. Chinese and Pizza was on its way. Brooke loved that Alex and Kara included her in these Netflix and junk food chill nights with them. She had been worried about encroaching on sister night, offering to make herself scarce so they could spend quality family time together, but they had both protested that they wanted her there. It felt nice.

After the second episode of stranger things, Brooke reaches over to the table and finds only one last portion of pot-stickers. Brooke decides that seeing as how Kara had eaten two portions of five pot-stickers each, it was her turn to indulge. Knowing how Kara feels about them, she shoves two in her mouth together, chewing as fast as she can before Kara notices. Too late, Kara sniffs and her head snaps round to see Brooke’s cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk’s and a guilty look on her face. Alex sees what’s happening and starts laughing hysterically.

Swallowing hard to clear her gullet, Brooke smirks and raises the carton higher, her hand poised over it. Kara narrows her eyes. Alex holds her breath, well aware of the threat that normally comes next.

“If those pot-stickers are not in my mouth in the next two seconds, I’ll melt your face off…”

Brooke snorts with laughter, “Well, you can try. Bet I can heal my face _and_ eat them all quicker than you can melt it though…”

Unwilling to see if they’d actually take it that far, Alex decides to step in. Sniffing sadly and looking at the carton longingly, she leans into Brooke. Brooke sighs and hands it over to her. Kara smirks, “Ha! I can definitely melt _your_ face off!” she gloats, pointing at the carton and making come to me gestures. 

Brooke leans forward until she’s half in front of Alex and says again, “You can try…” more menacingly. Alex laughs around the dumpling, delighted she has someone to stick up for her food rights at last. 

“Not fair, two against one,” Kara sulks, “Brooke’s always on your side too!”

“Well, you could always invite Lena over,” Brooke suggests, winking. A face full of cushion later, Kara and Brooke are dashing all over the apartment, chasing each other, until Alex begs them to sit and watch another episode before she wets herself laughing.

Before the end of the next episode, Alex falls asleep on the sofa, again. She’s had a habit of doing this the last couple of weeks, always around nine o’clock-ish. Brooke swears Kara to secrecy about the drool, which was a less endearing new habit as well, and sees her out. Carrying Alex to bed, she undresses her and places her gently under the covers. It wasn’t worth either of them wearing pyjamas as it was a fair bet that Alex would wake up again around eleven, horny as hell. When Brooke awakens two hours later to Alex pawing at her, gasping in her ear that she needs her, she smiles widely. There were some perks to having a pregnant girlfriend after all, it would seem.

Alex was insatiable when she was like this, but luckily for Brooke she always seemed desperate to touch Brooke first. Clambering on top of her, Alex crashes their mouths together, her hands frantically sweeping up and down Brooke’s sides, squeezing and pinching at the flesh beneath her finger tips until Brooke is moaning beneath her. All Brooke can do is lie there and go with the flow as Alex moves down her body, her teeth continuing the delicious torture until she sinks between her thighs and latches on, pushing Brooke into a frenzy until she begs her to stop, pleading it’s too much. 

Within seconds Brooke has recovered and she pushes Alex up the bed until her knees are either side of her head and she can return the favour. Brooke keeps her eyes tightly closed, unable to bear looking at Alex’s breasts and not be allowed to touch them. She can’t wait until they stop being too sore to touch. For now, she contents herself with using her mouth to please the woman she loves, over and over. When Alex’s raw need overcomes her ability to please her with her tongue, Brooke shifts out from underneath her, inveigling Alex with whispered pleas to stay where she is, up on her knees holding onto the bed’s headboard. Brooke also lifts to her knees, pressing her breasts to Alex’s back and sliding her knees under her, pulling Alex down onto her lap so her legs spread wide either side of her own thighs. Slipping one hand between her legs from behind and sliding inside her, her other hand slides down her abdomen to bring her pleasure from that angle. Brooke latches on to Alex’s neck with her teeth and sets about making her scream her name. Repeatedly. 

Holding Alex later, she watches as she sleeps, a smile still teasing the corners of her lips. Brooke smirks and gently kisses her cheek. No matter that insidious darkness out there, growing, waiting, life could still offer moments of bliss now and then, she thinks, snuggling down next to her lover. When Alex wakes her up at three in the morning, whispering in her ear that she has a craving for ‘Cheez Whiz’, Brooke rethinks her earlier optimism, wearily dragging herself out of bed to fly to the twenty-four hour grocery store. As she pulls on her clothes in the dark, she mentally calculates how many more weeks until the baby is born, sighing to herself when she comes up with thirty-one weeks, six days.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Supercorp called, they told me they felt a little cold out there on the edge.... what's a girl to do? *shrugs*

Brooke was feeling unusually shy, for her. Standing in front of her partner’s mother with only her underwear on might have had something to do with that. It didn’t help that Eliza seemed to be playing a game in which she was the only participant, and the object of the game was to see how many times she could make Brooke blush. Not normally one to bear such teasing stoically, Brooke was secretly glad that Eliza felt comfortable enough with her to banter. Eliza and Jeremiah had, understandably, been quite wrapped up in each other for the last few weeks; relearning each other and strengthening their connection, healing the rift left by the long years apart. Due to that, Brooke didn’t feel she had bonded with them as their potential daughter in law yet, not to mention as the other mother of their first grandchild. Eliza frowns as Brooke’s heart rate spikes, causing the monitor to blip. Embarrassed, Brooke concentrates on trying to calm her pulse, taking steady, even breaths. An effort that was completely wasted minutes later when she briefly hears Alex’s raised voice as she reprimands some poor unfortunate. Eliza glances at the monitor, then looks coyly over her shoulder at Brooke.

“Twenty-two.” She states.

Dumbfounded, Brooke just stares at her, unsure of if she was supposed to understand that or have an answer for her. Smirking, Eliza crosses her arms and slowly saunters closer until she’s encroaching on Brooke’s personal space. Brooke closes her eyes in resignation as the monitor betrays her once more.

“Since I’ve been conducting your medical, your heart rate has spiked twenty-four times. Twenty-two of those times were because I either mentioned Alex, or you heard her or saw her. Once was just now when I came closer, perhaps because you’re scared of your partner’s mother, or perhaps you prefer much more personal space, being English.” She pauses to wink, “However, there was one time that I couldn’t pinpoint the cause,” she taps her pen on her chin thoughtfully, trying to recall what was happening when the anomaly occurred. Brooke folds her arms, trying to glare her down, knowing she was failing miserably when Eliza just laughed gaily and went back to her reports. Alex came breezing in, dropping a brief kiss on Brooke’s mouth as she turned to her Mom. Brooke practically growled when the monitor went wild and Eliza doubled over with laughter. Ripping the electrodes off, Brooke stomps over to the wall and unplugs the machine, just for good measure. 

“Am I missing something?” Alex asks, a half grin on her face as she looks quizzically between her Mom and her lover.

“Nope, nothing at all. Other than your Mother is a bigger wind up than you and Kara put together,” Brooke huffs.

Turning to her Mother, Alex puts her hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised in question. Still giggling, Eliza crosses to Alex to give her hug, kissing her head, “It’s not my fault you make her heart race darling. Other than that little weakness, and a one-off blip when she was thinking about something else which she won’t tell me about, she’s fit as a fiddle.” Eliza dumps the medical report in her daughter’s hand and walks straight up to Brooke, resting her hands on her upper arms and looking directly into her eyes. Brooke gulps and does her best not to blush, for once. “Sweetie, relax. Seeing the physical proof of how much you love my daughter just makes me love you more.” Holding her head between her hands, Eliza presses a tender kiss to Brooke’s forehead, pulling away with a soft, knowing smile before she turns on her heel and leaves the laboratory.

Blinking rapidly, Brooke holds her arms out to Alex who immediately moves into her embrace, a tender smile on her face as she wraps her arms around Brooke’s shoulders.

“Your Mom,” Brooke pauses to clear her throat gently, Alex can feel her swallowing rapidly where her throat rests against her neck, “She’s something else, huh?” 

“That she is,” Alex responds gently, holding her tighter when she feels a trickle of warm moisture roll down her neck and disappear under the collar of her t-shirt, “and the best thing is, you get to share her, and my Dad, as well now…” she adds, her own tears falling when she hears a tiny noise like a soft gasp, comprised of both sorrow and gratitude, coming from her staunch partner. She squeezes her even tighter as she tries to imbue her embrace with all the love and gratitude she holds in her own heart for this complex, amazing woman.

 

**********

 

Kara hunches over her laptop, typing furiously just shy of super speed. Holding back not out of a sense of secrecy, but because she’s worried if she goes any faster while she’s this irritated with Snapper ‘No Story’ Carr, she’d pummel the keys into dust. Hearing a familiar footstep clicking along the narrow corridor to her box room, Kara takes the short reprieve before the visitor arrives to lean away from the dreaded screen and will herself to relax; shaking her hands out and closing her eyes. By the time she hears a knock and calls out for the person to enter, she’s pretty sure she looks a picture of calm serenity again.

“Hi… Kara? Are you ok? You look like your day is as annoying as mine…” 

Exasperated at how quickly Lena can see through her, Kara pouts at the same time as letting out a breath, stirring the loose hair at her temples. Smiling crookedly, she gets up and moves into Lena, enjoying feeling her closeness and warmth for a moment.

“I’ve had less sucky days,” she admits.

“Snapper?” Lena raises an eyebrow.

Kara steps back to be able to see Lena clearly, holding her hands out in supplication, her shoulders rising, “How is five hundred words on the prominence of sagging jeans in the over twenty-fives more important than overt homophobia in the police department? How?” she exclaims incredulously.

Laughing gently, Lena reaches out to pull her back into her arms, leaning in to be able to inhale the scent of her hair, which always smelt amazing; coconut and a sweet summery smell that was just Kara, “It’s not more important. However, it is less politically volatile. I’m not surprised Snapper squashed your piece if that’s what you were angling for, I saw him cosying up to the potential new commissioner at a fundraiser last week.”

“Darn old boys network. It’s not right, I’m sick of all these machinations and power plays. We should be reporting the truth all the time, not just when it’s convenient” Kara griped. 

Rolling her eyes, Lena folds her arms and fixes Kara with a pitying look, “Come on Kara, you’re not that naïve.”

“I’m not naive at all!” Kara contests heatedly, “I believe in doing what’s right Lena, not what’s easy!”

“Oh, so I take the easy route? Or are you saying I don’t do what’s right all the time?”

Shaking her head, Kara tries to figure out how they got from hello to arguing in the space of minutes, “Lena, I wasn’t even talking about you. I don’t…You don’t…,” Kara sighs and looks down at her feet, “I’m just annoyed because my sister only came out a few months ago. And her girlfriend is an NYPD detective. It’s just, it’s a little close to home, that’s all… ok?” she pleads.

Relenting, Lena walks over and puts her arms around Kara’s strong shoulders again, sighing. Sniffing, Kara shifts her head to the side, looking around Lena’s shoulder to a bag that she’d dropped by the door on her way in, “You bought lunch?”

“I brought a picnic. I was hoping I could persuade you to play hooky from work for a couple of hours?” Lena smiled hopefully, tilting her head to one side playfully and biting her bottom lip slightly.

In answer, Kara kisses her soundly, enjoying the little squeak Lena makes in the back of her throat. Holding up one finger, Kara lets go of her and steps back. Using super speed to get her coat, shut her laptop down and pick up her office keys, she’s back at the now open door, the waiting picnic bag in hand and a smug look on her face, all in less than a second. 

“I’ll take that as a yes to playing hooky?” Lena laughs, breezing past her to lead the way.

Over an hour later, Kara is staring at Lena as she sips her apple juice. They’re sitting on a Barbour picnic rug beneath a weeping willow’s fronds in National City’s botanical garden; Lena’s high profile reputation getting them access to areas not normally open to the public. She’s staring not because Lena is heart-stoppingly beautiful, which she is, obviously, but because of what she had just uttered. Their picnic had been interrupted repeatedly. Lena had received three urgent phone calls and countless urgent email notifications requesting her presence back at the office. Kara had needed to fly off a few times for various issues going on around the city like an armoured car hijacking, an incident of domestic violence and a pet up a tree, again. One of these days she’s going to have to talk to Sharice about keeping Fluffy in a more secure tank, it had gotten to the point where Kara thinks she might be shoving that damn snake up the tree on purpose, just to see Supergirl.

Every time she’d dropped back behind the tree and speed changed into her civvies again, she’d flop down beside Lena and apologise profusely, if breathlessly. She hadn’t seemed to mind at first, apologising just as profusely each time her phone beeped. As time went on and the moments kept happening, Kara would return to find her buried in her phone, the smile she bestowed on Kara as she greeted her return growing smaller each time and the frown growing bigger, causing lines to mar her marble-smooth forehead that Kara wished she could smooth away. Until she said the words still reverberating around Kara’s mind. The words that made Kara’s heart beat so loudly it felt like all she could hear for a while.

_“Kara, I think we should be realistic here. This isn’t going to work. We both have too many commitments and responsibilities pulling us in different directions. I’m sorry.”_

Since then, Kara had just sat there, stunned, gaping at the woman sitting across from her who was wearing an unfamiliar expression that seemed devoid of all emotion. Desperately looking for a hint, a micro-expression, a twitch of an eyebrow, anything to be able to call into question Lena’s seeming about face concerning her feelings for her. Kara eventually had to concede defeat. Lena meant it. There was nothing to show she was hurting. Nothing to show her heart was breaking into so many sharp, jagged pieces she could feel them piercing her in a million places. Nothing to show she couldn’t breathe because the air had suddenly become something heavy, something cloying. Kara pressed a hand to her chest, pulled in a desperate gasp of breath and managed to lift her head to watch Lena again, not realising she had been bowed over staring at her lap. Lena was already packing the picnic up and seemed once more absorbed in her phone. Lifting the basket into the crook of her arm, Lena faced Kara and gave her a brief professional smile. 

“I’m sorry it turned out this way Kara. I’ll always be fond of you, please take care of yourself. Pop into L-Corp anytime.” Pressing a brief, cold kiss to Kara’s cheek she left the gardens. Left Kara. Left her sitting in a bewildered heap. Left her beneath a seemingly aptly named weeping willow. Left her.

 

**********

 

Stopping outside Kara’s apartment Alex paused, hands on knees, to catch her breath. Hearing a poorly stifled snort of laughter beside her, she lashes out without looking, feeling a sense of satisfaction when the back of her hand connects with a taut stomach and she hears a grunt accompanied by a whoosh of air being expelled rapidly. Straightening she glares at Brooke for mocking the poor pregnant lady, again. Brooke pokes her tongue out at her, “I offered to carry you, your pride said no, so I get to laugh at you,” she reasons, winking at Alex when she smacks her arm this time. 

Rolling her eyes Alex knocks loudly on Kara’s door. Both she and Brooke had been expecting her to come over to theirs tonight to celebrate Brooke being made official, with not only an ID but a paid job at the DEO as psychological consultant. When she had begged off, not in person or even in a voice call, but by text, Alex had been suspicious and decided they should go to hers instead. Brooke had voted to let her adult sister come to them if she needed help or support, rather than force her to tell them what was wrong. Alex had vetoed that idea as ridiculous, commanding Brooke to hurry and finish up inventory as they were taking pizza to Kara’s for dinner. On their way out of the DEO, they caught sight of Mon-EL and Winn still trying to wash off the permanent marker moustaches Brooke had given them in retaliation for making whipped noises behind her back. They both giggled all the way down in the lift when they overheard Hank calling the guys out for being stupid enough to take the piss out of someone who had enhanced senses, three of which were hearing, speed and strength.

Alex got out her key and went to open the door, impatient now seeing as Kara hadn’t answered the door or her phone. A hand reaches over and covers hers before she can turn it and she looks over her shoulder questioningly at Brooke. Worry grabs her heart when she sees the look of sorrow on Brooke’s face.

“Alex, she’s crying,” Brooke whispers.

Frantic now, Alex nearly breaks the key in the lock, throwing open the door and rushing into the loft. Bag and coat are dropped unceremoniously on the floor and she wastes no time getting to the sofa when she sees Kara curled up in a ball, surrounded by tissues and empty ice cream containers.

“Kara? Kara sweetie? What’s happened?” 

Alex pushes Kara’s sweat soaked hair out of her eyes, her heart clenching when she sees her face crumple and more tears cascade down her cheeks when she realises Alex is there with her. Holding her and rocking her in her arms like she had when she was little and scared, Alex looks helplessly at Brooke, wishing she could take this pain away from her little sister. Her sister who shouldered the troubles of the world every day and only ever wanted to help people. Brooke came over and quietly settled down behind Kara, reaching between them to lay one of her hands above Kara’s heart, just touching skin where her blouse was open at the collar, the other she laid on top of Kara’s hand where it clasped at Alex’s arm. As Kara calmed down and started breathing properly again, Alex looked over at Brooke, mouthing ‘thank you’ at her and receiving a loving smile in return as Brooke bent slightly to lay a kiss gently on Kara’s head.

When Kara looks up and manages a wan smile, Brooke pulls away and Alex can hear her put the kettle on, “Kara? What happened honey?”

“Lena…” Kara’s breath hitches again slightly and her eyes flutter closed briefly. She looks at Alex, then over at Brooke feebly, her eyes pleading.

Sighing, Brooke brings over a herbal tea, pressing it into Kara’s hand before turning to Alex, “Lena dumped her,” she states, bluntly. A look of pure fury overtakes Alex’s face, her hand reaches towards her side in reflex, hunting for her sidearm that, luckily, she’s not wearing.

“Don’t Alex,” Kara reaches out to hold Alex’s hand again, “She’s entitled to not want me anymore. I can’t make her like me…” Kara defends her ex-girlfriend, wincing internally at the ‘ex’ part.

Brooke sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose, “I swear to all that is Holy, you Danvers’ women are going to be the death of me!” she blurts out in frustration. Both sisters look at her in surprise, their identical bemused expressions making Brooke bark out a short laugh, “Kara, tell me exactly what happened. Don’t leave out a single look or word…”

“Why?” asks Alex, not sure what the point is in making Kara relive something that obviously causes her a lot of pain.

“Because, my dear, dear Danvers’ sisters. You both seem to be completely oblivious when it comes to how much people feel for you, and you also both seem completely oblivious to how other people’s insecurities can make them do stupid things if they are not called out on their stupidity…” Staring hard at Alex with a knowing expression, she waits until she sees Alex blush and smile sheepishly when she recalls how they’d both been guilty of each of those. Kara continues to stare at Brooke with a painful, lost look of confusion. Brooke sits on the coffee table in front of her, their knees touching, and takes Kara’s hand in her own.

“Please Kara, trust me. I am one hundred percent certain you missed something because I have felt what that woman feels for you, and she thinks you hung the moon and the stars! There’s something else going on here, so tell me everything and I’ll help you work through it, I promise.”

Hope creeps back into Kara’s eyes, her back straightening slightly as she stares into Brooke’s eyes, hypnotised by the promise of redemption within them. Alex watches the pair of them as her sister starts to give Brooke a blow by blow account of her time with Lena, starting with her surprise visit to Catco. Seeing the pair of them sitting so close, their blond heads looking like twin suns’, Alex strokes her belly contentedly. Brooke was going to be just as good a mother as she was a lover and a sister. Alex felt like the luckiest woman in the world. 'How could anything ever mess with this? With them?' She thought, grinning in contentment.

 

**********

 

Deep beneath the Sierra Nevada, in the bowls of the Earth, he watched as the totem glowed brighter. Each throb of blood red light resulted in a corresponding howl of agony from the pit it was suspended above. Two soldiers entered, saluting fearfully and handing what looked like an ancient tome to the man.

“Sir, we found it. We had to kill the keepers as you thought we might. But, we…. We couldn’t…”

The man slowly looked up, his hand continuing to stroke the cover of the tattered leather tome lovingly as he waited patiently for the soldier to finish.

“We couldn’t get them to tell us how to accelerate the growth, sir.” Said the first soldier, gulping as a bead of sweat trickled down his neck from in front of his ear.

“We tortured them for hours, they just wouldn’t give it up sir, we tried everything…maybe… maybe they didn’t know themselves?” Stuttered the second soldier, her legs trembling.

Smiling benevolently, the man nodded sagely, “Yes, yes. I understand. We can’t all have the same talent for information extraction as my dear, late, departed Lillian, can we?” he said, reasonably. 

Waving his hand, two henchmen in masks suddenly lunge out of the shadows and hit the soldiers over the back of the neck. Lifting their unconscious bodies, they unceremoniously push them over the small wall into the pit. A high-pitched grunting grows in volume before turning into crunching and tearing sounds. Wet, meaty noises. Gulping sounds. Snuffles and coos like something is pleased, content.

“No. We can’t all be as perfect as she was. No matter. We’ll just have to be patient and let it grow stronger naturally. Besides, revenge is a dish best served cold, isn’t it Lillian my dear?” The question resonates off the caverns walls, only the echoes answering him as he walks away, cackling gently to himself. Several low whines drift out of the gaping maw of the pit, giving the impression of dissatisfaction and great need. Ever-hungry, never ceasing, need...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh.... the plot thickens. Any feedback, please feel free to comment. Still trying to figure out a possible brief crossover, so any ideas will be gratefully considered, although no promises. My muse can be a fickle mare when she wants to be ;)
> 
> R x


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the initial posting of this chapter bombed :( learning curve for me, don't rush the posting and have some time away from it first ;P
> 
> I did some editing and tweaking, hopefully it'll be a better read now. Please let me know what you think, t'is agony not knowing for sure *begs on bended knee*
> 
> Thanks all, R x

Alex and Brooke were still with Kara in her loft. Brooke had spent the last forty minutes helping Kara understand Lena's choices earlier in the day. Not to mention how Kara's own insecurities had played right into Lena's and reinforced her feelings of not being worthy.

“Are you sure?” Kara asks plaintively, again.

Alex rolls her eyes. Brooke closes hers, and counts to ten. Lifting the mug cupped between her hands, she inhales the wonderful aroma of the hot chocolate within, trying very hard not to throw it at her partner’s stubborn ass sister.

“Kara, I’m an empath. I’m very sure. So sure, in fact, that if it doesn’t turn out how I promise, I will make you my maple pecan plaits, with extra chocolate, every single day for eternity. Don’t even try that look…” she hastens to add when Kara’s eyes widen and she affects an air of innocence, “you seem to forget I have enhanced hearing. What was it you said when you tasted them? Oh yeah, I remember, it was, ‘Rao! Can I marry this? Is that legal? It’s legal right…?” 

Alex snorts with laughter, falling off the arm of the sofa and leaning helplessly against Kara’s arm, falling over into her lap when Kara moves her arm to fold them and pout at Brooke. Her expression morphs from indignation to fearful hope when Brooke slides forward off the coffee table to kneel right in front of her. Placing her hands on Kara’s knees and squeezing gently, Brooke fixes her with her gaze, “Kara, please, trust me. She adores you, and you have to go and make her understand that its mutual, because right now she thinks she’s an idiot for even entertaining the thought of being with you.” Alex sits up and wraps her left arm around her sister’s shoulders, hugging her gently.

“How do you know?” Kara asks in a tiny voice, staring into Brooke’s eyes, looking for reassurance.

“Because, I felt exactly the same about your sister,” Brooke smiles crookedly at Kara, “Alex shows me I’m worth loving every day, and she believes in the both of us enough for me to get past my feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. If she hadn’t sought me out after that day at the bar? I would never have been lucky enough to be with her now. You have to be the strong one in love sometimes Kara. You have to fight for what you want, even if it feels like you’re fighting them, especially when they aren’t strong enough to fight for themselves.” 

Kara hears a sniffle coming from beside her and turns her head to her left. Tears are pouring down Alex’s cheeks as at the same time as she wears a huge smile on her face. Seeing that Kara is looking at her, Alex laughs and tries to wipe her face, embarrassed at the display of emotion. Kara looks between her sister and Brooke, her head turning back and forth enough times that it starts it look comical, then she jumps to her feet. 

“I love you. Both of you. I have to go….” 

Brooke looks at the empty space where Kara was sat only a second ago, then up at the curtains billowing in the breeze from the wide-open balcony door. Grinning at Alex, she pulls her to her feet, a wicked grin on her face, “So, we’re in your sister’s apartment, alone. I spy an empty bed…”

“Brooke!” Alex hisses, “We can’t,” her protests are cut off with a moan when Brooke nibbles on her neck…

 

*********

Kara lands outside the French doors of Lena’s private apartment, thankful she lives in a building with penthouse suites and private balconies. She knocks gently on the glass. When there’s no answer she listens carefully for a few seconds, then sighs. Sinking down with her back against the wall, she sits just to the side of the doors. 

“I can hear your heartbeat,” she says, just above normal speaking volume, “If I were to use my x-ray vision, which I won’t because I’m all about consent, but if I did? I know that I would see you sitting on the other side of this wall, in the exact same position I am.” Shifting so she could face the wall, Kara rests her palm on the cool black marble, opposite where she knows Lena’s heart is. Bowing her head and closing her eyes, she tunes out all her other senses, focusing only on her hearing.

“I don’t want to pressure you, or make you choose something you don’t want, Lena. But, I need you to understand something. This… Us… You and me? I know its hard. I know we both have so many things going on, so many commitments, so many directions we’re constantly pulled in and pushed towards, it can just feel like it’s too much, you know? But this? You're worth it Lena. We, we are worth it. Who I am… Lena,” her voice breaks slightly and she hears an answering hitch in breath, “people see me as a hero whenever I wear the suit, they think that I can save everybody, be everything to everyone, but that’s... its too big. I can’t…If I try to live up to that, I'll fail, I know it. So, I make the world smaller and I save it for that small part that means so much to me. Like my sister, my adopted parents, you know? People, they don’t see me Lena, not like my sister does, not like you do. They don’t make me feel the way you do. Being with you? It makes it worth it. Being with you…” Kara can’t help but let out a choked sob, both hands pressed against the wall where she knows Lena is sitting, listening to her pour her heart out. Closing her eyes and raising her head to the heavens, Kara takes a leap of faith and trusts Brooke's word, sending a prayer to Rao, “Lena, you’re my reason too, now…I don't feel lost anymore because I know why I save the world, why I'd give up everything to do so. I do it for the people I love, and.... I love you…..”

Kara hears the balcony doors slide open. When she looks up she sees Lena hovering over her. Her eyes red-rimmed, her cheeks showing the tracks of countless tears, “Kara?” she half sobs, half pleads. Kara flies into her arms, trying to remember not to crush her in her desperation to hold her, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” Lena gasps.

“Shush, it’s ok. It’s ok Lena, we’re fine.”

They find each other with their lips, offering each other tender, chaste affirmations of want and need. 

“I’m sorry I doubted us Kara.”

Smiling wryly, she nuzzles Lena’s neck, “I did too. Brooke helped me see what was happening,” chuckling she leans back to look at her again, “We’re obviously as bad as each other as sabotaging ourselves.”

“Do you think we could manage sitting, some talking, and maybe some cuddling, without screwing it up?” Lena jokes.

Smiling widely, Kara picks her up in her arms and super speeds into the living room. Lena lets out an unladylike squeak when Kara deposits her on the sofa. What starts as a scolding becomes a languid moan when Kara dips her head and ravages her mouth sensually for long minutes. 

“I think we could probably manage a bit more than that,” Kara smirks, waiting for Lena to get her breath back before winking and leaning down once more…

 

**********

 

Brooke finishes her training session at the DEO and heads straight for the showers, eager to find out why Hank thought Alex and Winn might have a lead on how to handle this demon situation. Dressing in a hurry, throwing one of Alex's old hoodies on over the clean vest top, she rushes off in search of her lover. Vasquez directs her to a converted conference room hidden away in the depths of the DEO. Pushing open the door, Brooke comes to a sudden stop, her eyes opening comically wide as she finds herself face to face with a six foot projection on the blank wall opposite her. A projection of a naked man with the head of a lion and three sets of wings. A vivid, technicolour picture. A vivid, full size, technicolour picture rendered in tremendous detail, detail that Brooke thinks perhaps did not need to be quite that detailed, or large. She hears giggling from the other side of the room and turns to see Alex sniggering into her hand and Winn looking flushed and exasperated.

“Alex, how long have you been winding Winn up about, um, shall we say… proportions?” Brooke asked.

Laughing outright, Alex shakes her head in denial, “That’s not why he’s blushing. That,” she says, pointing at the picture on the wall, “is supposed to be a representation of you and he was just starting to extrapolate theories regarding gender equivalence when you walked in,” Alex laughs even harder when Winn’s face starts to turn more purple than red and they can hear him muttering about legitimate scientific enquiry as he scrambles to switch the projection off.

Glancing back over her shoulder at the picture one last time, Brooke shrugs, casually stating, “Well, no wonder he needs three sets of wings rather than one… Imagine the wind resistance that would cause?”

A second of dead silence passes before all three of them succumb to the moment, bending over, clinging to each other and gasping until they are crying tears of laughter. When they eventually gain control of themselves, Brooke wanders around, looking over the seemingly endless bits of paper and vague bits of writing on post it notes scattered on every table and surface around the room. Looking up from what looks like a page out of an ancient text in the process of translation, Brooke sees Alex and Winn watching her with barely concealed anticipation.

“You think you’ve found something, don’t you?” she guesses.

Alex tilts her head towards Winn, “Ask our resident genius,” she smirks, her sarcasm not managing to hide the pride in her voice as she cedes the floor to her colleague.

Winn bounces over to Brooke excitedly, grabbing her by the arm and leading her to the one chair not covered in research. Pushing her down, he prances back and spins theatrically to face her, eyes shining with excitement.

“We’re pretty sure, that you are a forced mutation of a hybrid species that have been known throughout history, especially religious history, as angels and demons. In your case, specifically, a guardian angel to be exact,” seeing Brooke about to open her mouth to protest the ‘A’ word, Alex rests her hand on her shoulder and gives her the ‘be patient’ look. Frowning, Brooke settles back in her chair, resigned to letting Winn finish, "I used an algorithm that translated all the known available texts using a combination of ancient Ge’ez, Aramaic, Greek and Latin combined, and I found evidence that these all reference the same species, which can be split into different sub sets, with those seen as angels on one side and the demons on the other. Both share similar traits and characteristics. We believe your particular sub set is derived from the angels side, obviously.”

Winn finally pauses for breath, beaming at Brooke as if waiting for her to get excited and jump out of her chair. Feeling lost, Brooke looks over at Alex for help and rolls her eyes when she sees Alex is just as hyped. 

“Ok, for those of us who don’t have a degree in nerd, can one of you please tell me why this is so exciting?” she asks patiently. 

Alex is the one to answer, Winn’s brain racing into overdrive beyond his mouth’s capacity to keep up. “If we can determine the species and sub-species, we might be able to map the demon’s genome using yours as a starting place. Then we could perhaps develop a targeted organism, or maybe a counter measure specific to a known weakness, which means we might be able to…”

“Develop a weapon that works on it…” Brooke breathes out in an awed whisper.

“Exactly,” Winn blurts, “We have your DNA on file and we think we’ve figured out how the gene transfer and modification works in your sub species, which is how you infected Alex to create a hybrid embryo…”

“Infected?!” 

“Hey! Can we refrain from calling my child an infection?!”

Alex cuffs the back of Winn’s head and he grimaces at the realisation that he just called his God-daughter an infection, “Sorry guys, my bad. Mad scientist brain took over there for a sec…”

They forgive him after appropriate amounts of grovelling and promises to babysit and Brooke starts to fidget as Alex and Winn exchange a slew of last minute ideas, pleased when they finally leave Winn to his books and computers. When Brooke realises they’re heading towards Alex’s lab, she sighs. As they reach the door, she turns to Alex, “I just lost you to a bunch of weird tests and experiments for the rest of the day, didn’t I?” She pouts when Alex grins and nods, “Ooh, where’s Kara?” she asks, thinking she’d find a new partner in crime. 

“Last I heard, when she was squealing happily down the phone at me, she was with Lena,” Alex answers, “she said to tell you thank you, by the way.” Screwing her face up at the thought of having to interrupt whatever they were doing if she wanted to hang out with her, Brooke decides instead to find a new recipe to play with for games night that evening and wanders off after kissing an equally distracted Alex goodbye. She was determined to get Kara to admit she made better dumplings than the take away restaurant if it was the last thing she did.

 

**********

 

Game night was painful for Brooke in more ways than one. Lena was there, and she knew that Lena knew that she knew all about her insecurities, as well as being responsible for airing said insecurities to Kara, regardless of how it had worked out well in the end. They were avoiding each other as much as possible whilst simultaneously interacting enough to avoid drawing the attention of their, sometimes, overly-involved respective partners. Also, Tanya (Winn’s shy, sweet girlfriend) was present. She was totally adorable - a waif like elf girl, as Lucy had coined her on first sight - but, Brooke wasn’t used to having to watch what she said around people and it was annoying her. Besides all that, she just felt out of sorts. Like there was a static charge in the air that only affected her. She could feel it, like tiny electric claws chasing up and down her skin; irritating, maddening. It was taking everything she had not to scratch herself raw in frustration, or snap at anyone and everyone for the slightest thing, even Alex. She just couldn’t seem to shake it off.

She had been kicked in the ankle twice already; once when she made a joke about how Kara could just open the tins with her teeth when she was scrabbling around trying to find the can opener, and once by Alex for saying to Tanya that, ‘Yes, they were looking forward to the birth, but they weren't looking forward to flying poop’. Strangely, the kick from Alex hurt more than the one from her super sister, Kara must have been holding back. Brooke trailed off into the kitchen, grumbling to herself, to nuke some more popcorn. Everyone was going crazy at the thought of bump having little miniature wings and how cute that would be. All Brooke could think about was the logistics of an airborne baby. New-borns were a lot like horses she seems to recall, thinking about the memories of dealing with her nephews as babies; dangerous at both ends and tricky in the middle. Snorting quietly, she makes a mental note to never share that analogy with Alex.

After five games of Cranium, everyone was ready to call it a night. Winn and Tanya left first, slightly more quickly than could be deemed polite, a confused smile on Tanya’s face as she was ushered out of the door. Probably because Winn thought he could escape the teasing by leaving as fast as humanly possible. Alex and Kara just smirked at him, they wouldn’t have forgotten those pet names she called him, or the soppy looks, before tomorrow. The teasing would keep. James and Lucy were about to leave when nearly everyone’s phone rang in rapid succession. Exchanging uneasy looks, Kara, Alex, Lucy and Brooke all take out their respective mobiles and answer them, trepidation obvious in each of their voices.

“Supergirl? Director Henshaw said to tell you we need you urgently at Bourgeoisie night-club…”

“Danvers? There’s a situation at a nightclub, we need the DEO here now…”

“Major Lane? The NYPD have alerted their local armed response unit that there is an unusual hostile situation occurring at Bourgeoisie night-club. What are your orders Ma’am?

“Brooke?” Brooke and Kara had overheard all the other conversations and were staring at each other. Hank carried on speaking on the other end of Brooke’s phone, “The NYPD have called for external support at Bourgeoisie night-club where the patrons are acting, and I quote, ‘unusually’. I pressed them on what exactly they meant and they stated there were multiple reports of customers at the club engaging in group intercourse with apparent strangers as well as multiple reports of patrons beating each other unconscious. When the first responders entered…”

“They started acting ‘unusually’ too,” Brooke whispers. Her eyes are no longer seeing Kara, instead staring straight through her. Kara looks at Alex, helpless to know how to proceed, unsure as to what Brooke means. Alex comes to stand directly in front of her, gripping her upper arms. When Brooke seems to sense her presence and makes eye contact, Alex feels a jolt go through her at the bleak look on her lover’s face. Brooke gulps, her jaw visibly tensing and the skin around her eyes looking tight and drawn. She brings the hand not holding the phone up slowly to cup Alex’s cheek. Alex can feel it trembling and raises her own hand to press against it. A tear wells up in Brooke’s eye. Even as it does Alex sees Brooke's face harden and she literally shakes herself free of her fear. A sympathetic shiver travels through Alex as she watches Brooke gather her armour of cool, calm, unflappability about her, tension coiling in her frame. Alex feels her stomach swoop and dive. She feels sick. Seeing Brooke's eyes darken in resolve, she wants to scream at her, scream for her to not go. To stay with them. Brooke smiles sadly, feeling Alex’s fear and panic through her touch. She speaks into the phone, clearly, if quietly, “Hank, get everyone out of that area... its starting..."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lack of sleep and feeling angsty led to this dark little gem. Sorry :-/ Be warned, there is a scene which depicts a non-consensual sex act as well as a brief moment of graphic violence in this chapter!
> 
> Please let me know what you think, feedback makes the sun shine in my soul!
> 
> R x

Brooke and Alex wait outside the tech van that Winn had parked two blocks from the club, Brooke watching Hank argue furiously with the acting police commissioner, trying to get them to move back and evacuate the surrounding buildings. Alex’s eyes are on Brooke. She can hear Winn typing frantically behind her, trying to gain access to the club’s CCTV and security systems so they’d have eyes inside. Winn shouts that he’s in at the same time Hank gives up and storms back over to them, complaining about ignorant jerks with something to prove under his breath.

“He won’t move them back, will he?” asks Brooke.

“No. He’s not happy leaving it to us, either. We need to make sure he doesn’t try and push some of his officers forward. He’s a glory seeking idiot, no care for his people at all!” Hank fumes.

Winn leans out of the van, his face pale, “Hank, we’ve got eyes inside. It’s not pretty….” He trails off, looking nauseous.

Alex and Brooke exchange glances before jumping into the van to look at the monitors themselves. Alex makes a small noise of distress as soon as she focuses on the screen showing the main dance floor area. Hundreds of bloody, battered bodies are scattered everywhere. Hundreds more are writhing obscenely, twisted together in all manner of frenzied sex acts. In the midst of the chaos stands a tall woman. Alex can make out long black curly hair, a shockingly bright red dress. At least six people are thrashing and flailing around at her feet, naked, pawing at her legs and torso. Her head is thrown back, her lips peeled back in a grin that looks more like a snarl and she’s egging her depraved admirers on, stroking their heads and faces, pulling them closer to her. Looking over to Brooke for guidance, Alex sees that she’s frowning.

“Brooke?” Tearing her eyes away from the screen, Brooke looks up, still looking slightly unsettled, “Brooke, what is it?”

Swallowing, she croaks out, “That’s not the Demon. It’s a tainted one. She’s been corrupted by the Demon, but Alex, she’s human. It’s not her fault. Whatever she’s provoking or causing it’s not solely down to her, she’s being driven by the Demon’s impulses.”

“Can you save her?”

“In this universe? I don't know. Normally, it would require a magic practitioner to cast out the aspect of the Demon, like an exorcism…. I can try…” she trails off. 

Alex can see how anxious she is and leans in to hug her. Tightening her hold she whispers in Brooke’s ear that she trusts her to do what’s best. Smiling weakly, Brooke nods at her and gives her one last kiss before moving off to coordinate with Hank and Kara. Not that anyone else had much of a role in this operation. Brooke had been very clear that if they got anywhere near the club, they would be as helpless as the patrons who had already been taken over. Supergirl and Hank would fly perimeter sweeps, making sure no one got in the way. Alex and her teams would do their best to prevent the police chief and acting commissioner from pushing their troops into the danger area. Speaking of which, she needed to give Maggie the heads up. Telling Winn to keep eyes on and let her know of any changes, she touches base with her sister and Hank, then moves off into the line of police cars, searching for the detective.

 

**********

 

Brooke moves towards the dance floor, stepping over the multitude of bodies and debris as carefully as she can, not wanting to alert the woman she was approaching. As she draws closer to the stage at the back of the dance floor, hoping to creep up behind her and end this quickly, the woman starts to chuckle quietly to herself. 

“I see you…” she hisses viciously, without turning around.

Suddenly, Brooke is overwhelmed by sickening images in her mind. Flashes of everyone she cares about in all manner of depraved, horrific acts invade her senses. Crashing to her knees, Brooke gasps for breath, focusing all of her mental power on blocking the psychic attack. When the images recede, she realises she’s trembling; the experience leaving her incredibly shaken. Not because of the images themselves, but the accompanying emotions that were forcibly projected with it. She had enjoyed watching her loved one’s rip each other apart, had gotten off on the bestial acts the tainted one had planted in her mind. Gagging slightly, she rises shakily to her feet. As sneaking up was no longer viable, Brooke was now invested in option two; beat the crap out of her for what she just did to her. She knows its unfair, the woman herself hadn’t done that to her, but at least it would stop her for now. When she was unconscious, they could take her back to the DEO until they can figure out how to exorcise the Demon aspect.

The woman laughs shrilly and spins to face Brooke as she runs flat out towards her. As Brooke reaches striking distance, the woman side steps nearly faster than Brooke can follow. Her hand flashing out to grip Brooke’s arm, she throws her to the other side of the room with tremendous force. Brooke careens into a concrete pillar, cracking it nearly all the way through. Lazily sashaying towards where Brooke’s crumpled on the floor, the woman smirks at her as she tries to get her wind back and breath properly, “He told me you would find me, that you would feel it’s call through me,” leaning in to run her finger down Brooke’s face, leaving one clear track where Brooke’s sweat sheened skin glows through the dust, the woman breathes in deeply, as if scenting her.

“Who’s he?” Brooke manages to gasp out.

“He’s the one that’s going to destroy you all. To pay you back for destroying his world, his life…” the woman giggles manically, her eyes becoming obsidian pools, no whites showing at all, “you have no idea how powerful he has helped me become, so much stronger this way, even in this fractured form.” Her voice was deepening, becoming harsher and more guttural. Brooke pushes up into a sitting position getting her feet under her, tension pooling in every muscle as she watches the Demon aspect subsume even more of the poor woman before her.

“Even so, I grow weary of these bonds. I will play his game. Until I am bored. Then?” the woman leans down, her fetid breath feathering Brooke's cheek as she growls her challenge at her, “Then I will destroy everything!” The woman jumps at Brooke, her strength and speed greater even than the true Demon that Brooke had fought all these years ago. Momentarily shocked, Brooke’s surprise costs her dearly as the woman gains purchase on her and literally runs them through the wall, masonry and steel shattering before them as she pushes them out onto the road in front of the club. Brooke panics when she sees how close the defensive line is, made up of the DEO agents and NYPD officers. She can see Hank to her left about two hundred yards closer than the tech van, where Winn was safely holed up. Snapping her head in the other direction, she can see Alex to her right, only one block’s distance from her. She screams at them to get back whilst trying to keep her hold on the woman and keep the fight as close to the club as she can, not knowing how far her influence can reach. 

Too late, the waft of corruption trickles across the first few men and women nearest to them. Guns and riot shields clatter to the floor as they all turn on each other, either in battle or lust. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex can see Brooke and the woman striking each other with huge force, pummelling each other every which way, Brooke constantly yelling for them to get away. Alex shoots tranquiliser darts into the agents and officers who are closest, trying to put them safely out of action whilst backing away with the team nearest her as quickly as she can. She pauses as something sweet and sickly seems to roll over her. She starts to feel, smell and hear every sound, every heartbeat around her. She can smell their sweat, their fear, their arousal. Her mouth waters, her senses on high alert. A hand landing on her shoulder has her standing to face the warm body behind her immediately, her mouth already opening as she leans in. No hesitation, no tenderness; just raw, harsh, physical pleasure. A tiny bit of her, deep down inside, recognises the warm body as Maggie. An even tinier part of her, far, far down inside, screams over and over in horror; aware of what’s happening, but helpless to stop herself. 

Brooke throws the woman to floor and punches her as hard as she can in the jaw, leaning all her weight on her to try and keep her pinned. She looks over to where she had seen Alex attempting to retreat with her team, desperate to know she’s ok. Her face contorts into a rictus of horror when she sees Alex pushing Maggie into side of SUV, both kissing furiously, each of them struggling to release belts and zips enough to be able to touch the other more intimately. Laughing, the woman takes advantage of Brooke’s distraction and throws her off, immediately springing up and pouncing on her. Grabbing her by her wings before she can reorient herself, the woman swings Brooke around, impossibly fast, before releasing her to smash through the wall opposite the club in a cloud of dust and rubble. 

Prowling closer to where Alex and Maggie are lost in a haze of corruption and lust, their hands having forced their way past layers of clothes to mindlessly fuck each other, the woman sneers evilly, "He wants to hurt you so badly, its delicious! Let’s see if we can really make this a night to remember, hmm?"

Alex feels another pair of hands come to rest against her waist, pulling at the tops of her fatigues, dragging them down her hips as a flat muscular chest presses against her back. The stench of corruption deepens as the tainted woman draws even closer, her teeth bared in a shark’s smile. Helpless to resist, Alex leans back into the man behind her, the deepest part of her howling in horror and despair. A growl, so deep and full of fury the car windows tremble, erupts from behind her. In her peripheral vision, she sees the woman turn sharply to face Brooke as she lands directly next to her, roaring loudly enough for Alex to feel the reverberations travelling up through her feet. Without pausing, without a moment’s hesitation, Brooke wraps one hand around the bottom of her throat, the other hand gripping her awkwardly around the chin, beneath her jaw. In a sudden jerking movement, she thrusts her arms apart with all her strength. Opening her hands, the decapitated corpse falls to Brooke's feet, the head rolling slightly before coming to rest next to the rear wheel of the SUV. Alex can feel the oily, cloying strangle hold on her free-will ebb away. Snatching her hand out from inside Maggie’s pants, her face flames red with shame and fury. She scrambles to rearrange her own pants and do them up, then forces herself to turn and face Brooke.

Brooke is still standing there, side on to Alex, staring down at the bloody mess at her feet. Alex can see her chest heaving, her shoulders trembling with the effort of sucking air into her lungs, fists clenched so tightly at her side blood oozes between her knuckles from the crescent shaped wounds her fingernails are making in each palm. Taking a stuttering step towards her, Alex reaches out for her; hand outstretched, fingers splayed in silent entreaty. Brooke's head inclines towards her as she sees the movement out of the corner of her eye. As soon as she sees Alex, Brooke’s eyes slam shut, a sob escaping her. Before Alex can move or say anything, she's buffeted by a huge down sweep of air as Brooke's wings launch her into the night sky. 

Frozen in place, Alex's stares at the spot where her lover was just standing. Drawing her arm back towards her, she gasps when she catches sight of a glint of moisture on the tips of her fingers. Her stomach roils, bile rising in her throat. Her other hand flies to her gut, pressing against it to try and hold it in place. Disgust and revulsion override her control and she drops to her knees, forcefully expelling everything in her stomach, violently continuing to retch even when there's nothing left to purge, tears pouring down her face. 

A figure in red and blue appears at her side and a pair of arms wrap around her, she can hear Kara gasping into her ear, begging her to tell her she's alright. But she can't, because she won’t be, not ever again, not if Brooke can’t forgive her. Kara pulls back to look her in the face, trying to understand as Alex sobs, stuttering over her words as she desperately explains that she couldn't help it, that she loves Brooke, that she tried to stop it. Kara looks behind her to where Maggie is sat on the floor by the SUV, knees up and elbows resting on them, her face cupped in her hands as shudders convulse through her. Kara can see enough to know Maggie is crying as well. Understanding immediately what had happened, she rushes to reassure her sister, "Alex, no! Brooke would never think that, she knows you were being controlled!" Still sobbing, Alex clutches at Kara, "She left me K.. Supergirl, as soon as she realised what I'd done, she left me." In her frenzied state, Alex nearly outs her sister, managing to swap names at the last moment. 

Smoothing down Alex's hair, rubbing her palms across her cheeks again and again, Kara can't help but cry as well. She had never felt so powerless, so useless. As soon as the woman had come out of the club into the open street, all Kara had wanted to do was hurt everyone around her. She had no say in it. No free-will whatsoever. It had been worse than when she was infected with Red Kryptonite, she was totally helpless to resist the urges. Thank Rao, Hank wasn’t affected due to his mental powers. He had managed to contain her until Brooke had killed the woman. If he hadn’t, Kara dreads to think what she might have done. Looking at the bloody mess that's all that is left of the woman, she remembers what she saw before Brooke killed her and she got her faculties back.

“Alex, Brooke didn’t leave because of what you did, she left because of what she did!”

“What? I saw her, she closed her eyes because she couldn’t even look at me, she was sobbing, then she took off…”

“Alex, I might not have been able to control what I did, but I know what I saw. When she got free of the building she’d been thrown into, she saw what was happening to you and she was devastated. She didn’t even look around at anything else, just flew straight to your side. All she could think about was saving you.”

Alex frowns, processing what Kara said. That certainly didn’t sound like Brooke had been disgusted by her. Her gaze is drawn by the blood pool on the ground next to her, her eyes following it up until she sees the torso. Even higher, she can make out the raggedly torn connective tissue where Brooke had literally ripped the woman’s head off with her bare hands. Something claws at her heart, like something nagging at her, trying to get her attention. Still staring at the headless corpse, Alex recalls Brooke calling herself a monster once. Recalls how Brooke had been scared of losing everyone because of what she might have to do to protect them. Recalls their conversation not more than half an hour ago, _‘Can you save her?’_ she’d asked, _‘I can try…’_ Brooke had responded. Recalls that Brooke had snapped another woman’s neck for hurting her not long ago. Had killed, for her. Oh God. 

Jumping up she grabs Kara’s arms, pulling them face to face. Her tone is so low and urgent, her voice so intense, Kara can feel her stomach tighten in anticipation, “Supergirl, I need you to go and find Brooke for me. Don’t approach her, just pinpoint where she is and come straight back to tell me, ok?”

“What about…”

“Don’t worry about here. I’ll coordinate with Hank. We’ll need to arrange counselling for the days ahead but we can do triage and clean up right now,” she carries on, speaking faster and faster as she turns her head this way and that, assessing what needs to be done.

“But I…”

Alex suddenly steps closer to Kara, right into her personal space, still holding her arms in a bruising grip that would have hurt a human, “Kara,” she whispers, “how guilty does Brooke feel for killing Lillian? For killing her in anger because she hurt me? Lillian had free-will, she chose to try and murder me! Yet Brooke still felt she was a monster that didn’t deserve me or anyone else in her life because of it,” She pauses as Kara’s eyes widen, realisation setting in. Nodding, her face grim, she goes on, “if she felt that awful and depressed over killing a piece of shit like her, what’s she going to feel like after murdering someone who she thinks is an innocent? To save me from being raped?” Alex rests her forehead against her sisters for a moment, both swallowing down tears at the thought of what might have happened, Kara thanking Rao Brooke was there to save her sister. 

Lifting her head, Kara fixes Alex with a determined look and swears, “I’ll find her Alex!” before shooting into the sky. Alex stares after her for a beat, then pushes everything ruthlessly down inside her so she could do her job and start to sort this mess out. Because, as soon as Kara found Brooke? She was going to go straight to her, and she wasn’t leaving her side until she had convinced her that she was worthy of every drop of love anyone ever gave her, and then some.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, as you can see, this is a long chapter and.. erm... nearly half of it is sex. I'm not sure whether to say sorry or enjoy?! Please note the rating change, this chapter is soooo not safe to read at work - not unless you have a verrry understanding boss ;-P
> 
> *wanders off to find which gutter she left her mind in*
> 
> R x

Kara gently set Alex down, away from the edge of the roof. Something about a pregnant woman seemed to make everyone go a little ‘mama bear,’ but for once, Alex didn’t snipe at Kara for being over protective. She was too tired and too worried to protest, even when Kara deliberately stood on the other side of the roof, crossing her arms and looking determined. Fine. If she wanted to stay and protect them both, it was her own fault if she heard something she didn’t want to. Taking the time to glance around, she realised they were at the top of the old clock tower. The view was spectacular, although not as good as from the top of Catco or L-Corp of course, thanks to their greater height. Being in the middle of the old quarter seemed to make it all the more majestic though, with sweeping eaves and various disused and forgotten belfries dotted here and there. A twinge in Alex’s lower back brought her back to the moment, the uncomfortable fullness in her belly she’d been feeling all night reminding her they needed to get off this roof sooner rather than later. Fortifying herself for the coming battle, she adopts her take-no-prisoners face; Brooke was coming home with her, no arguments. 

Walking carefully across the pitched roof, Alex circles the central spire to find her partner sitting with her back against it, staring out across the city. Taking a deep breath before contorting her very uncomfortable frame down beside her, she scrutinises what she can see of her lover’s profile. She knows that Brooke’s aware of her. It would be impossible for her not to be thanks to her enhanced hearing, sense of smell and sight. Even in the dim light she can see the remnants of her tears, ghost like trails of silver against her cheek. She can see Brooke’s throat convulsing, the tendons in her neck corded tightly; whether she’s trying to work up the will to speak, or hold back more tears, Alex isn’t sure. Seeing her partner so distraught makes her own heart ache in response. Reaching out, Alex can’t help but touch her, needing a connection with her so strongly it physically hurt to leave that gap between them. 

As soon as Alex’s bare hand comes to rest against the back of her neck, Brooke’s head bows down even further. Her elbows rest on her raised knees and she brings her hands up over her head as she brokenly gasps out, “I’m so sorry Alex. I tried to get to you before… but I couldn’t… and then I saw red and I just…” shaking her head she chokes to a stop, slumping sideways into Alex. Catching her awkwardly, Alex holds on tight; soothing her palms over the back of her head and everywhere else she can reach. Whispering nonsense noises and words of comfort in her ear, she tries to project her belief, acceptance and love into her through her touch. After everything Brooke had done for her, for her family, she refused to let her guilt herself back into a nomadic, lonely existence again. When her shuddering slows, Alex attempts to talk her down, both emotionally and literally she thinks, looking around.

“Brooke, no one but _you_ thinks you’re a monster,” feeling Brooke take a sharp breath, Alex doesn’t pull her punches, continuing ruthlessly, “I only know a fraction of what you went through in your universe, or what it was like when you first came here. But, what I do know is, that you were the _only_ one that could have stood against that Demon’s influence tonight. I also know that you were the only one that could have saved me when I was dying,” Seeing Brooke make eye contact with her for the first time since Kara had set her down, Alex smiles. Her heart flutters slightly when Brooke gives her a small answering smile in return. She leans in to nuzzle her gently, causing that small smile to spread into a tiny grin, “I know that you are the other mother of our child, sister to my sister, daughter to my parents. I know that you belong with us, with me,” she finishes, affirming her words with a deep, soulful kiss.

 

Brooke falls into the kiss, holding onto Alex desperately. There was no way she would ever be able to find the words to tell Alex how much she meant to her, but she would try every damn day to show her, if she could. When they touched, she felt… she felt… Gasping, she thrust Alex away from her, shaking her head, trying to clear it. Alex’s eyes go wide with shock at the sudden movement, “Brooke?” Still shaking her head, Brooke presses her forefinger against Alex’s lips, imploring her with her eyes to stay quiet for a moment. Brooke carefully slides her right hand beneath the collar of her DEO issued T-shirt until it rests just above her heart, placing her other hand on her abdomen. Brooke’s eyes widen in amazement before she slams them shut, tilting her head to one side as if straining to listen. Alex can feel the thudding of her heart against Brooke’s hand where it lays warmly against her skin. Anxiety tightens her guts, she’s about to yell at Brooke to ‘speak to her, damn it’ when Brooke abruptly springs up, taking Alex with her easily.

“Kara!” Brooke calls urgently. Near instantaneously Kara is beside them, a worried look on her face, “call Eliza, have her meet us at the DEO, its urgent.”

“What? Brooke what is it? Is it the baby?” Alex feels like she’s on the verge of panic. She can see Kara already getting her phone out, her face white.

“Nothing sweetheart, I don’t think anything’s wrong, I just think something has changed and we need to get you checked out. Please? For me? I need to know you’re both ok!” Brooke begs her. As soon as Alex nods her acquiescence Brooke scoops her up into her arms, holding her much more firmly than usual. Sprinting to the edge, she looks over her shoulder to check Kara is following then launches in to the air. Over the wind in her ears, Alex can just about hear Kara on the phone behind them. She hears her yell to Brooke they’ll be waiting for her then Kara zooms off ahead of them. 

They land on the balcony within minutes of taking off. Kara comes back out to let them know Eliza and Jeremiah had already been at the DEO, helping Hank on a new project, and that Eliza would meet them in the med bay. Striding into the building, Brooke refuses to put Alex down, carrying her into the main command centre in her arms despite an absolutely furious Alex squirming as hard as she can. Eliza hurries over to them, on seeing Alex’s red face and Brooke’s drawn features she immediately places a hand on Alex’s arm.

“Alexandra!” 

Hearing her full name in a tone reminiscent of her childhood, Alex is shocked into stillness. Eliza puts her arm around Brooke’s waist and guides them both into the medical bay where Brooke lays her down with utter reverence, sliding her arms out from under her reluctantly and immediately transferring her grip to Alex’s hand. Alex can’t tear her gaze away from Brooke’s, even as her Mom bustles around getting equipment ready. Brooke is looking at her with a devotion that seems very near adulation and she can’t fathom what she did to deserve that kind of love. Squeezing her hand, she knows Brooke feels her own love in return as she smiles and caresses her cheek softly. Alex winces slightly when the cold gel touches the skin of her abdomen, still not looking away from her lover, held entranced in her eyes. It isn’t until she hears a small gasp and Brooke’s line of sight shoots to Eliza that the spell is broken. 

“Mom?” she asks, tremulously.

“She’s fine Alex,” her mother is quick to reassure her. From where she’s laying she can’t quite see the monitor. Brooke can though, so she glances at her to gauge her response. Seeing the shock on her face panics her and she scrambles to sit up, determined to see for herself. Eliza notices her anxiety and quickly spins the monitor to face her, making calming noises. Alex freezes half out of the bed when she catches sight of the screen. She was ten weeks along at her last scan, just over a week ago; then they could see their daughters brain just starting to form and her legs were beginning to become apparent. Looking at the monitor now, it was hard to believe it was the same baby. Now, she could clearly see a well-formed head and brain, a clearly defined spine, an arm and a leg, a tiny, perfectly formed, miniature clenched fist. Everything shifted slightly in Alex’s head. Alex felt her whole world re-orientate around the tiny person growing inside her. She felt Brooke come up beside her to hold her. Felt warm tears hit her shoulder. Felt her own tears join them. She couldn’t stop looking at her, at their daughter. 

“It looks like you’re about twenty-one to twenty-two weeks pregnant now Alex. She’s still fine and healthy,” Eliza says reverently. 

“How?” croaks Brooke.

“I don’t know,” she admits.

Alex spins in Brooke’s arms, throwing her arms around her and sobbing loudly. Startled, Brooke tightens her grip worriedly.

“Alex?”

Managing to control her breathing enough to talk, Alex gasps out, “For me. I think she did it for me. I have two of the most over-protective, bravest, sweetest idiots on the planet looking out for me, and one’s not even born yet!”

Brooke didn’t even pretend to try and understand what she was babbling about, Alex couldn’t help but laugh at the utter confusion on her face, “When you landed beside me, I felt this huge rush of love. It felt like I could think again and I even managed to at least kick that guy behind me. I thought it was you. I thought I could feel your need to protect me, but Brooke, I think it was her!” She states in awe, looking down and pressing one hand to her bump, which was definitely bigger. Now she knew why. To think she had been blaming it on gas all night, “ever since then I’ve felt calmer. Even what happened with Maggie hasn’t really phased me much. I think it’s her. She’s projecting on me… you felt her too, didn’t you? At the clock tower?”

Dazed, Brooke just nods. Eliza laughs at Brooke’s impression of a fish out of water, rolling her eyes and telling her to take a time out to get used to the idea that she’d be a mother in around four months rather than seven while she ran more tests, just to make sure. 

As soon as Brooke left the lab, Kara, Jeremiah, Winn and Hank converged on her. 

“Well? Brooke? Is she ok? Is my niece ok?” Kara was wringing her hands with anxiety.

“She’s fine,” Brooke cleared her throat, trying to put some force into her voice, rather than the weak, shaky version that had just emerged, “She’s fine and so is the baby. Our daughter is as impatient as you it seems. She’s decided she wants to skip a few months.”

Kara and Winn look bewildered. Jeremiah’s eyebrow rise and he starts to smile, nodding towards the med bay with a questioning look, walking off to go and see his daughter and wife when she nods, grinning herself. Hank snorts, muttering, “Typical,” as he wanders off.

Laughing at Kara and Winn who look about ready to implode, she takes pity on them, “The scan showed the pregnancy has advanced significantly, it looks like she’s only got about four months to go now.”

“Four months?”

“Oh my God, Kara, we have to get those baby grows designed now!”

 

**********

 

Alex leans against the wall in the hallway, watching Brooke as she opens the door and carries the portable ultra-sound she had insisted on into the apartment. Passing through the door behind her, Alex watches as she places it on the floor and turns to close the door. She can see her muscles working in harmony beneath her thin vest top every time she moves. Her skin glows with a faint bronze sheen in the hazy amber light trickling through the windows from the street lights outside. Alex had been dealing with an unbearable need to touch Brooke ever since the med bay. Barely managing to keep it under control through all the attention and fussing from everyone at the DEO, now that they’re home, Alex wants her with a ferocity that takes her breath away. Storming up behind her she roughly grabs her arms to spin her around, practically throwing her against the door. Crushing their lips together, she wastes no time seeking Brooke’s tongue out with her own, plundering her mouth repeatedly until she can hear Brooke moaning uncontrollably. She pulls back only when she needs to drag air into her lungs.

“Alex?”

“I love you Brooke, no matter what happens or what we go through, know that I love you.”

Brooke frowns and kisses her again, “I know. I love you too sweetheart,”

“Life’s too short, Brooke. We’re stronger together. We live such dangerous lives! I don’t ever want anything to come between us. I... I need you so badly right now…”

Brooke recognises that the need in Alex goes beyond sexual release. She needs affirmation that they are alive, that they are together; living, breathing, hurting and alive! 

“You have me, Alex. I’m yours,” she whispers, kissing her forcefully and pulling Alex hard towards her as she crashes back against the door again, giving her tacit permission to need, take, have.

Letting out a sound somewhere between a moan and a sob, Alex doesn’t hesitate to take what’s being offered. Fingers claw at belts, buttons, zips. Brooke trying her best to help where she can, mostly just letting Alex do what she needs until they are both naked and Alex pushes into her once more. They sigh at the glorious feeling of full body contact, gentling their actions for a second, then Alex picks up the pace again, helpless to resist the raging need inside her to possess her lover. Dropping her hands to either side of Brooke’s hips she moves her mouth lower. Biting down on her clavicle, she nibbles her way along it, her thumbs rubbing circles into her pelvis. She forces one knee between Brooke’s legs and swirls her tongue around the hollow of her throat as her right hand dips down past her knee then draws higher, up the back of her thigh, agonisingly slowly, until she’s gripping her tightly just below her ass. Breathing in deeply, the scent of Brooke’s arousal threatens to overwhelm her and she pulls back slightly. 

Opening her eyes, she takes in the sight of her lover; Brooke’s hands are flattened either side of her, palms down against the door, head thrown back, chest heaving, legs spread and thighs trembling. Alex’s belly tightens and her sex clenches as she rushes to close the distance again, immediately latching onto a nipple and teasing it. Sucking it into her mouth she pulls away, stretching it slightly and grazing it over and over with her teeth as she lets go only to envelope it in her mouth once more, swapping between each breast so neither feels abandoned. Her fingers swoop between Brooke’s legs, finding moisture in abundance, ready for her. Pressing against her abdomen with her other hand to keep her steady, she spreads Brooke’s arousal with just her fingertips, reaching to her clit and nearly all the way back to her ass, drawing aimless patterns until Brooke’s hips are practically smacking into her and she’s begging her repeatedly to ‘Please just fuck me already!’ 

Giving in to her pleas, Alex pushes three fingers inside her straight away, marvelling at how turned on and open Brooke is, even as she starts to buck her own sex against Brooke’s leg, not realising she is soaking her lovers taught thigh with her own arousal. Alex thrusts in and out of her firmly for a while, not trying to finish her, just enjoying the feel of her wet warmth around her fingers. She knows it will only take pressing down with her thumb on her clit and curling her fingers towards her, like so, then circling that tiny area that feels just that bit different to the rest, like that, and… Brooke comes with high pitched moan, her hands flying up to grip Alex’s shoulders as her hips remain poised in mid thrust. Tension rolls through her body as Alex feels her sex grip her fingers over and over as she rides the waves of pleasure. As soon as her muscles relax, she holds Alex in place with her hands on her hips and sinks to her knees. She pulls Alex towards her roughly, causing her torso to fall forwards and her arms to automatically jerk forwards and hold her up against the door. Brooke grips her by the upper thighs, her fingers digging into the muscles as she leans forwards. Feeling Brooke’s tongue thrust into her wildly, Alex spreads her legs a little wider and lets go, her head dropping between her arms so she can watch as her lover makes her come again and again, until her legs can’t hold her up anymore and she sinks down onto Brooke’s lap. Panting hard, she looks beseechingly at Brooke.

“I know sweetheart, hang on...”

Using powerful leg muscles, Brooke sets her back against the door and pushes upright, still holding Alex up so that when she’s standing, Alex’s arms are wrapped around her shoulders and her legs are wrapped around her waist. As Brooke walks easily to their bedroom, Alex closes her eyes and tries desperately to be patient. It wasn’t often she got like this, so needy, so demanding. But when she did, conventional sex didn’t seem to satisfy her. It would take the edge off but not satiate her. They’d found a way to deal with it, but that didn’t stop Alex from feeling slightly wanton whenever she felt like this though. Which, if she was being honest with herself, just added to her enjoyment. Feeling Brooke bend down, without losing her grip, and start fiddling with something whilst arranging Alex on the bed, she couldn’t help her breath coming faster and faster. Her ass was at the edge of the bed, her knees spread as Brooke settled herself between them, leaning over her and looking at her before asking, “You ready?” Alex just nodded, biting her lip when she felt Brooke slide the dildo inside her and then take her wrists and pin them to the bed above her head.

Beyond speech, Alex could only gaze up at Brooke as she started to move. Teasing her at first, knowing it wasn’t enough, Brooke slid the dildo out until the tip was just inside her, then pushed it slowly back inside until Alex could feel Brooke’s wet skin against her own. Using her heels to push against Brooke’s ass, she tried to get her to move faster, knowing she wouldn’t. Knowing it was part of the game. Brooke kept up the same torturous pace, the only variation a sight change in the angle, until Alex was nearly in tears. Her whole body strained upwards towards Brooke, sweat trickling between her breasts, her breath coming in sharp gasps. Her sex was so tight it felt like she should be coming, but she wasn’t, she couldn’t, not quite yet, because Brooke wasn’t giving her what she needed yet. Staring at her, Brooke was panting as well, waiting for the sign her lover was ready for what she wanted, but didn’t know how to ask for. Alex closes her eyes and relaxes, whispering, “please,” as her body goes limp, Brooke smiles tenderly at her submission, at the acceptance and trust. 

Releasing Alex’s wrists Brooke leans further into her, skin against skin, one arm burrowing beneath her back so her hand could grip her shoulder, her other hand pushing down against her hip. Kissing her hard, Brooke starts fucking Alex in earnest, planting her knees against the edge of the mattress. Alex tenses again, on the cusp of orgasm, and within minutes she’s tumbling into the abyss, screaming her pleasure, vaguely hearing Brooke yelling her release as well. As she comes down she feels Brooke withdraw and turn her over. Ready for more already she eagerly complies, bending over the end of the bed, planting her feet apart and supporting her weight on her hands. When Brooke slides back inside her, Alex could cry with how sublime it feels. Brooke drapes herself over her back, bringing her mouth closer to her ear, whispering words of encouragement as she builds her back up again, the dildo moving easily between them still, despite how many times they had orgasmed already. 

Rocking backwards against her, Alex tries to convey to Brooke that she needs more, knowing that Brooke was worried about having rougher sex because of the baby now. Although Brooke does reach around to pinch and play with her nipples, she doesn’t increase the pace or the pressure. Frustrated, Alex uses the trick she knows is always guaranteed to push Brooke over the edge. Looking back at her over her shoulder, Alex catches her eye and growls out, “Brooke, please, fuck me!” Her reaction was instantaneous, as always. Hips pumping twice as fast, Brooke slams the hilt of the dildo against her with each forward thrust, one hand going to her hip to pull her against her more forcefully, the other leaving her nipples to travel downwards until Alex feels Brooke squeeze her clit between two fingers in time with her thrusts. Unable to hold herself up any longer, Alex drops to her elbows and rests her head against the mattress. Incoherent noises pour from her mouth as her sex convulses in what feels like either one very long orgasm or an explosive series of them. Her legs are about to give out as well when she feels Brooke tense, crying out her name, before collapsing against Alex’s back, taking both of them down to lay in a sweaty, sated mess. 

“Enough?” Brooke asks when she has her breath back.

“Enough.” Alex agrees, smiling as she feels Brooke smooth back the hair sticking to her forehead and cheek before pressing a sweet kiss there. 

Brooke carries her to the bathroom and showers them, every movement a caress, every look an avowal of their feelings. Lying in bed with Brooke later, Alex had never felt closer to her. Despite what they still had to face, she felt confident in them, in all of them. When Brooke leans over her to whisper goodnight, she sleepily gives her a kiss. She’s confused when instead of laying back down, Brooke shifts lower in the bed. Alex grins when she feels her press a gentle kiss to her distended abdomen, whispering, “goodnight bump.” Alex can’t help but chuckle, “Love you, idiot,” hearing a quiet giggle and “Love you too,” before she slips into a dreamless sleep.

 

**********

 

Deep in the underground lair, the man stares at the beast below him in the deep pit. Even when shining a floodlight into the pit, it’s impossible to focus properly on it. Its edges seem to coil and writhe constantly, perpetually in motion, cloaked in a seething darkness that seems alive in itself. The entity stares back up at the man, seeming to be concentrating intensely on him, like it can't decide whether to listen to him, or devour him. The male speaks in the new words of this world, so unlike the languages of old the entity knew. It had picked up enough of it to know that the male was called ‘Westfield’ and that his minions had reported the experiment to transfer part of the entity’s essence into that female was a success. 

The male had been fucking the female when he corrupted her, forcing the blood bond on her by biting her tongue deeply and pouring the liquid into her mouth before she could react. The entity approved of that level of cruelty, in so far as it approved of anything. It was, however, deeply annoyed that the process and the transfer had hurt _it_ though. It hurt others. Not the other way around!

The entity listens to the male rant and rave about his success. How the female was the perfect specimen to be taken over quickly and completely. How now he wanted to try and corrupt an innocent; planning ever greater and more complex plots to entrap and harm the humans he harboured hatred for. Tuning out his insane babbling, the entity looks between the male and the totem that hangs high in the air above it’s prison. The totem that binds it through the human’s blood sacrifice to do his bidding and cause the male no harm. The totem that, whilst giving it extraordinary strength, traps it in this pit with no will of its own. The entity’s eyes narrow in thought as they settle on the talisman once more, a look of single-minded focus on what passes for its face as it, too, starts to plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you liked it - did you know that when writers don't get feedback, somewhere, a fairy dies? And no amount of clapping will bring them back?! *innocent look*
> 
> p.s. If you're thinking, 'didn't she mean strap-on?' - google the word 'feeldoe' ;-)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, only four fairies were spared. This took me longer to write because I had to organise a mass memorial for all those not saved by kudos or comments *sighs* oh well :-/ 
> 
> The rest of the fairies are looking forward to all the lovely feedback this chapter might bring, they're not scared at all, nope! 
> 
> Enjoy...
> 
> R x

Alex and Brooke exit the DEO lift together. As they approach the command centre, their joined hands slip apart gently, taking the time for one last caress before parting. Alex winks at Brooke as they try and put a few more inches between them to maintain some kind of professionalism. They nod politely at various agents as they pass. Agent Yousafzai dips his head as they draw closer, turning to hide his face. Alex sighs, feeling guilty that he’d been dragged into the Demon’s sick game and now felt too embarrassed to even look at her, much less talk to her anymore. Brooke sways into her, nudging her with her hip. 

“It’s ok Alex, I’ve got a plan to help anyone that’s struggling with what happened. He’ll be back to debating the best type of agar for growing fastidious bacteria with you in no time,” she promises.

Alex grins and bumps her back, “Is that so you don’t have to?” she teases.

“Absolutely!” 

Their jovial mood evaporates abruptly when they reach the main area and see Agents Brody and Vasquez tiredly debriefing with Hank. Now the early morning text calling them to a meeting made sense, they must have been investigating the victims at the club with the NCPD all night. Watching their body language, Alex feels her heart sink; defeat is written all over them. Feeling Brooke’s gaze, she turns her head slightly to see her face, seeing the same feelings of dejection and hopelessness reflected in her eyes. Hank nods them towards the conference room as they pass him, not breaking off his conversation with the agents. As they sit down to wait for him, Alex takes the opportunity to look around the oval table. She’s relieved to see a determined look on her sister’s face, she makes an effort to replicate it in defiance of the pervading atmosphere of despair that had been evident since they arrived. Winn was sitting to Alex’s left and on Kara’s right, a tablet on his lap chirping softy now and then, an empty chair between him and Alex ready for Hank. Brooke was on her other side and Lucy was on Kara’s left, between her and Brooke. Presumably Lucy was here to discuss the army’s involvement and their role in any future encounters with the Demon. Alex thought that should probably be limited to evacuation only, considering what went down last night. 

Hank sweeps in, a pile of reports in one hand and a steaming cup in the other. Wasting no time on pleasantries, he launches straight into a summing up of how horrifically useless the DEO and NCPD were, are, and no doubt will be again. Feeling Brooke’s hand slide into hers, Alex smiles ruefully at her. Fine, that may have been a bit harsh. She was so frustrated! It didn’t sit well with Alex that her partner, or anyone for that matter, had to risk their lives while she just sat there on the side-lines, watching, not lifting a finger to help. It wasn’t in her nature to be cowardly and that’s damn sure what this felt like. She knew that, logically, it would be pointless to even try and get close to it; Logic had nothing to do with how her forced helplessness chafed at her though. Hank and Winn gave Lucy the rundown of what the army could do in this situation, pretty much nothing, as Alex had thought. It took another twenty minutes for them to convince her it really was pointless to try. Alex understood that mule-headedness and persistence, even admired it - she wanted so badly to be able to do something too.

Brooke cleared her throat, “There might be something new about this Demon, something I haven’t encountered before, that could change the game. It’s not certain though,” she warned quickly when everyone’s face lit up at the idea.

“Go on,” encourages Hank, leaning back in his chair and swivelling it to face Brooke more fully, giving her his undivided attention. 

“Ok, I need to explain some things first. So, Demon’s don’t have gender. We might call them him, or her, because of the way they’ve chosen to present their corporeal form. In truth, they aren’t even asexual, they aren’t like any life on earth. They’re energy. Dark energy that they form mass out of somehow, which may be why only I can hit them as part of that same energy is in me. That woman last night who’d been corrupted? She said, _‘HE told me you would find me, that you would feel it’s energy through me,’_ amongst other things.”

Hank sat up ramrod straight, Lucy and Kara leant forward and even Winn shows signs of alertness that hadn’t been there moments ago.

“You think someone is controlling it? That it wasn’t random?” asks Kara.

Brooke nodded slowly, “She was adamant that this man, whoever he is, wanted to destroy us all. To pay us back for ruining his life.”

Everyone immediately wracked their brains trying to figure out who they had arrested or put away lately. Anyone that was so angry they wanted revenge was surely safely locked up, weren’t they? Shaking her head slowly from side to side, Kara looks up at Brooke, “There isn’t anyone I can think of who would come after us all like this. Not since Cadmus was put out of action and Lex was put into solitary confinement.” She states, puzzled, at a loss as to who might be behind it. Hank nods agreement. Winn starts tapping away on his tablet, concentrating so hard a furrow appears between his eyebrows. 

“Winn?” queries Alex, knowing that look; he’d had an idea but didn’t want to share it yet. Well, now wasn’t the time to keep a secret, again.

“Huh?” he mutters, not taking his eyes away from the screen in his lap.

Hank clears his throat pointedly. Kara crosses her arms, staring at him. Lucy rolls her eyes and chucks her pen at his head, causing him to jump and his eyes to snap up.

“Heads up, nerd. As truly wonderful as your child mind is, you need to share with the rest of the class.”

Smiling despite himself, and making a mental note to quiz James about Lucy’s nerd rating later, Winn enlightens them, “You mentioned Cadmus, Kara, it got me thinking. Maybe we missed someone in the mop up? The woman who B… who was tainted?” He subtlety changed his phrasing when he caught sight of Brooke stiffening slightly, “her name was Eva Porovia. She was a hot-shot civil case lawyer who pissed a lot of people off and had her fingers in a lot of unethical money making schemes. Porovia was her married name; she divorced her husband, hedge fund manager Gino Porovia, five years ago and took him for millions. Her late father was a Navy JAG of the ‘hang ‘em an flog ‘em’ brigade, General Freisler.” 

Lucy’s eyes widened at hearing that name. He had been notorious for always siding with the ‘old boys club’ and being a misogynistic bastard. He’d died in a car crash three years ago. Speculation had been rife that it was a staged accident, although no proof could ever be found. 

“Where are you going with this Winn?” Alex prompted.

“Having looked at all the other victims from the incident last night, cross referencing them with each other, there’s no link other than they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Porovia is the only real lead we have to the underbelly of society, which is where I’d be hiding if I had ties to Cadmus. Also? Her social media sites hint that she was seeing a mystery man. I think we have to pursue this through her, she could be our way in to who’s behind it.”

Hank looks around at them all, waiting to see if there were any objections. Everyone seemed in agreement.

“Fine. Winn, carry on looking for anything on this Porovia women that could help us find this man. Lucy, we’ll stay in touch, please try and persuade your commanding officers they need to hang back from this for now. Brooke, you wanted to see me about the victims so we’ll do that now. Alex and Kara, find Maggie and interview everyone in this woman’s life.”

Alex’s heart sunk at the thought of facing Maggie so soon after they had been forced into a compromising position the night before. Thanks to the apparent empathic gift their baby had made sure she wasn’t feeling that guilty. Of course, it helped knowing Brooke felt no resentment or jealousy whatsoever. In fact, Brooke actually felt guilty that she couldn’t stop it before it happened. Maggie was a different kettle of fish though, one that Alex would have happily left alone for an indefinite period of time while she avoided her like the plague. What could she say? So, you had your hand down my pants in front of my partner and half the NCPD, but it’s ok because we were being controlled, no biggie, right? Alex bangs her elbows onto the table, grabbing her head in her hands and huffing. Kara zips over to her and peels her hands away, giving her a crooked, sympathetic smile, “The quicker you face her, the easier it’ll be?” she tries, outright smirking when Alex playfully punches her in the arm, then has to shake out her fist, wincing slightly.

 

**********

 

The police station was heaving with officers and the public in the aftermath of last night’s ‘clusterfuck’, as Alex had taken to calling it in her head. Whenever Alex had visited the station in the midst of a crisis previously, like just after Myriad, the officers had seemed stressed but determined. Like they were born to fulfil the role of protector and when the shit hit the fan? They were in it all the way. This felt different. While Kara went to speak to the duty sergeant, Alex studied the men and women around her. Some of them had visible bruises or lacerations on their faces, some had bruised knuckles. As she watched a police officer listening to two women who were haltingly trying to explain that, ‘no, they didn’t know the men’s names,’ and, ‘no, they couldn’t say which of them had stolen their purses because they weren’t near them at the time on account of hiding behind a table because they were naked you see,’ she noticed that the officer wasn’t making eye contact, or reassuring them at all. In fact, the officer looked embarrassed. 

Then she realised what was different about the officers. Before, all they had ever shown in their expressions was maybe a little anxiety along with a fierce determination. Now? They looked scared, down heartened. More than that, they look dis-empowered, like they felt helpless. That rocks Alex to the core, it smacks too much of victim-hood and she squirms to think she is just as powerless. Kara smiles at the sergeant and bounces back over to her, pushing her glasses up her nose in an achingly familiar gesture that nearly undoes Alex. She feels balanced on the knife edge between rationality and insanity. Suddenly, she desperately wishes Brooke were with her. Kara senses her panic and grabs her by the hand, pulling her into the stairwell. After a couple of deep breaths Alex pulls herself together, smiling weakly at Kara. A hell of a lot of insistence and good acting later, she manages to convince Kara that she’s fine and they finally carry on to the science department, her momentary panic forgotten.

Alex lags behind as they reach the offices of the science division, trailing after Kara by a good few metres as they enter the detectives’ bull pen, practically dragging her feet to put off arriving at Maggie’s office. A ploy that bites her in the ass when she hears a familiar voice from behind her shoulder, “Didn’t expect to see you here so soon Danvers…”

Wincing, Alex manages to drag her gaze up off the floor where she’s had it trained for the last few torturous minutes, only to see Kara mime getting drinks and darting away. Mouth dropping open, Alex whispers _‘traitor, no more pot stickers for you!’_ under her breath, knowing Kara would hear. Sure enough, there’s the faint sound of a distant giggle as Kara waltzes off to the canteen. Opening her mouth to try and break the ice, she slams it shut again when a smirking Maggie breezes past her. Slowly tagging along, she pauses at the doorway, leaning against it to watch Maggie shuffling reports. She realises Maggie has yet to make eye contact and Alex can plainly see she isn’t nearly as cool with her as she’s pretending to be. Moving quietly to the opposite side of the desk from where Maggie’s now moving paperwork randomly from side to side, Alex gently rests her hand on top of Maggie’s. She freezes, her head tilting in a way that Alex knows she’s looking at their joined hands. 

“Maggie, I…” frustrated with her inability to put her thoughts into words, Alex exhales forcefully. Straightening, she pulls Maggie round the desk into a hug and just holds on tightly, expecting resistance. Maggie does wriggle at first, although she stops fighting her sooner than Alex thought she would, switching to returning the hug with a desperate intensity, her hands fisted in the back of Alex’s jacket. Alex can feel her shoulders trembling minutely. She knows she’s crying. She always did struggle to cry in front of others, even with her when they were together. They stand like that for several moments. Maggie isn’t crying anymore and Alex is starting to suspect that she’s not pulling away because she’s embarrassed now. Sighing, she just stands there, rocking them slightly, waiting for her to be ready in her own time. Nothing good ever came from rushing Maggie, that she knew from hard experience. 

Two figures appear in the doorway simultaneously. One she was expecting, who was waiting with three coffees balanced in her outstretched hands, staring in bemusement at the other visitor, who she wasn’t expecting.

“Brooke?” Alex gasps.

Maggie jumps out of her arms like she had been electrocuted, retreating to the far side of her desk, scrubbing furiously at her face. Brooke barely acknowledges Maggie, crossing the distance to Alex in three strides, frantically grabbing at her arms, looking everywhere agitatedly.

“Alex? Are you ok? What’s wrong?”

“N…nothing! Why?”

Brooke takes a moment to stare at her face, glancing over at Maggie who raises her eyes for a brief second before looking away again. Her brow furrows. Letting go of her over-zealous hold on Alex, which might actually leave a bruise, Brooke continues to look between her, Kara and Maggie. She even walks out to the bull pen before returning and staring at Alex again. If she hadn’t been so confused and on edge, she’d have laughed. As it is, Brooke’s strange behaviour was peaking her already heightened anxiety.

“Brooke! What the hell is wrong?”

“I… I felt you. It felt like you were in emotional pain, like you were calling out to me…” Brooke looks just as bewildered as the rest of them are. 

Alex thinks back to that moment in the booking office, when she felt a wave of need for her partner ripple through her. Seeing the awareness in her eyes, Brooke cocks an eyebrow at her in question. Alex smiles sheepishly and looks down, cupping her slightly rounded belly with both hands. 

“Are you kidding me?” Brooke asks, throwing both hands up in the air, exasperated. 

Kara catches on and starts giggling. Placing the coffees down on the desk she bends over, getting her head closer to Alex’s abdomen, “did my little bump want her other mummy to make her mommy all better? Hmmm?”

“It’s not funny Kara!” exclaims Brooke.

Alex starts to giggle as well. Seeing both sisters smiling, their eyes shining, Brooke can’t help but laugh along with them. Stopping suddenly, her face sombre again, she looks over at Maggie. Alex notices and her giggle fizzles out as well, soon followed by Kara’s when the awkward atmosphere reasserts itself. Maggie is still looking at Brooke, her expression wary, like she expects the worst now Brooke is there. 

Sighing, Brooke nods towards the coffee, “I’m stealing all your caffeine, go get some more, I need a minute with Maggie.”

Both Alex’s eyes and Maggie widen slightly until Brooke huffs and glares at them, her arms folded, “Really? Where’s the trust?”

Looking abashed, Alex goes over to Maggie, giving her stiff frame one last hug and whispering that Brooke wasn’t angry and she’d be fine, kissing Brooke on the cheek she walked out with Kara, leaving them to sort out whatever it was Brooke thought they should sort out.

Half an hour later Brooke came out of her office with Maggie following closely behind, carrying a sheaf of papers. Seeing Alex waiting, Maggie smiled at her. Calling out see you later to Brooke, she veered over to desk she and Kara had appropriated. Alex caught Brooke’s eye as she carried on to the exit, not sure what was going on. When Brooke just winked at her and blew her a kiss as she left, presumably to go back to the DEO, she turned to Maggie, her anxiety painted all over her face.

“Relax Alex,” Maggie grinned, “Brooke and I are fine. Better than fine, you are one lucky woman!” Kara snorted at the look of shock on Alex’s face as Maggie winked and continued, “That gift she has of projection? Miracle worker, I’m telling you. She said she’s going to come and help our teams out tomorrow, after she’s sorted everyone at the DEO. We sure could use it. I think the people that got the crap kicked out of them are coping better than those that ended up doing the horizontal mambo if you ask me…”

Alex frowned at the flippancy in her tone, reminded again that her insensitivity had always rubbed her the wrong way. She snapped, “Probably because its less violating!”

Aware that she had once again offended Alex, Maggie held her hands up, palm out, “Hey, no offense intended, I get it.”

Alex stands, grabbing her jacket, her face pinched, “let’s go find out about this Eva Porovia so we can move on this guy, shall we?”

Rolling her eyes, Maggie slung her own jacket on as Kara shrugs at her and follows her sister out of the building without waiting. Maggie sighs to herself. Even now it always seemed to be one step forwards, two steps back with that woman, she mused.

 

**********

 

Even Kara was tired by the time they got back to the DEO. It felt like they had traipsed around half the city and all they’d manged to deduce was a first name and a description. Kara slumped onto a stool at the circular table. Alex overheard her calling Lena to change their plans from a restaurant to a quite night in with a movie and pizza as she walked over to Winn. She could feel her legs burning and wondered how many miles they’d ended up walking in pursuit of what felt like nothing. Winn smiled sympathetically at her and offered her the rest of his three shot americano. 

Smiling gratefully at him she asks, “Where’s Brooke?”

“She and Hank are still trying to help the agents that were there last night, you know, psychologically?”

Nodding in understanding, she hears Kara tell them she’s going for a shower then going home. Waving her hand tiredly in acknowledgement, Alex props her chin on one hand, wishing she could go home too. She’d just wish Brooke was there if she went now though. 

“Distract me Winn,” she pleads.

“Do you wanna build a… multiphase, multiverse communicator?” he asks, eyebrows wriggling.

Alex can’t help but laugh, even though she thinks his idea of trying to send a message to Barry’s universe is crazy, “Sure, why not,” she smiles and pushes down on her thighs to get her tired legs to move one more time, heading off in the direction of the tech lab, Winn chattering non-stop about his ideas all the way there.

Much later, Winn sees Alex and Brooke practically propping each other up as they wait for the lift. Brooke looks terrible; grey faced and hunched over on herself. No wonder she didn’t want to fly them home. Alex puts one arm around her waist when the lift arrives and Winn can see the worry for her partner etched across her features. It seemed Brooke was going to damn near kill herself in her guilt driven frenzy to try and fix the damage the demon had wrought. Steeling himself and putting on what he thought of as his own resolve face - learnt from Kara - Winn grabs an energy drink and goes straight back to the lab, more determined than ever to find a way to help.

 

**********

 

Her mobile wakes Alex out of a deep sleep. She can feel a weight across her ribs, just above her belly. It takes a few seconds for her to wake up enough to figure out its Brooke’s arm as she stirs to the relentless ringing as well and moves it. 

“Who the hell’s calling us at,” Brooke pauses to squint at the glowing digits on the alarm clock, “two in the morning?”

Fumbling her phone off the night stand, Alex feels a jolt in her gut when she sees Kara’s number lit up on the screen. Answering quickly, she snaps out, “What’s wrong?” Knowing it can’t be good if her sister was calling at this hour of the morning. Already alerted by her tone, Brooke was moving around the bedroom, gathering clothes for them both, her face grim in the dim green glow from the illuminated display on the clock.

“Alex? Winn rang me, I’m at the DEO. Can you come down here please?”

“What? Why? What’s going on Kara?”

She hears a rustling sound on the other end of the line, like someone is moving the phone around, then a new voice comes on. One she vaguely recognises.

“Hey Alex. Surprise!”

Looking up at Brooke, her mouth falls open. Brookes stops rushing around and comes over to her straight away, worried by the stunned expression on her face.

“Barry?” she asks incredulously, “Barry Allen?”

“The one and only!” he chuckles.

“Oh my God, he did it!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its the Flash!! *squee*


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive shout out to FanOfFiction and 42Forever for their consistent and regular feedback. I appreciate all the kudos and comments I get (like, seriously, you have no idea how important they are to keep a writer going!) but these two needed a special mention. Thank you. Much love to you both!! xxx
> 
> So, this is the first part of the crossover... Hopefully I'm staying true to the crossover character's personalities - if you haven't seen the TV series 'Constantine', you may get a bit lost, fair warning ;)
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)
> 
> R x

Alex shot out of the lift at the DEO, only to be immediately greeted by two, super speeding, excited puppies before she could move more than a few feet. Brooke stopped dead behind her on the cusp of exiting, causing the automated warning to continuously, if melodiously, pronounce ‘doors closing’; unlike Brooke’s mouth - which was hanging open, her eyes wide in shock.

“Alex! So good to see you again,” Barry grins and leans in to hug her tightly while Kara practically bounces up and down beside him, beaming just as widely. Letting go, he looks over her shoulder at Brooke, “Ah, sorry, have we met?”

Kara practically squeals as she zips to Brooke’s side, linking elbows and dragging her forwards as if presenting her for approval, “Barry, this is my sister-in-law, Brooke. She’s an angel… but not really,” she tags on quickly, feeling Brooke’s glare without having to see it.

“Sister in law? Angel? Wh…”

“Hah! Not so speedy with the words, are you?” Brooke cracks, getting a back hand from Kara that actually makes her huff out a breath. 

A smoky, slightly accented voice, filled with promise and sex, cuts over Barry’s stuttering, “Oh, I think perhaps she’s part angel, no? And the reason we’re here, I’ll wager…”

Brooke’s eyes snap towards the speaker, a smile lighting up her face. Alex looks from Brooke towards the main area to see who the voice belongs to, swallowing hard when she sees a beautiful, honey skinned woman with a riotous mass of dark curls framing a strong jaw and a stunning smile. A stunning smile that was aimed right at her lover. Smirking at Alex, Brooke strolls towards the stranger and they embrace like long lost friends. Rolling her eyes, Alex grits her teeth and moves towards the woman as well, determined not to be jealous. Sometimes, she really hated that Brooke could now sense some of her feelings without even touching her. 

“You two know each other?” Barry asks Brooke and the woman. Alex stares at him incredulously, thinking it a totally redundant question considering they had yet to let go of each other. Brooke finally releases the woman and waltzes back to Alex’s side, giggling under her breath. When Brooke winks at her discomfort, Alex glares at her and elbows her in the ribs.

Relenting, Brooke puts her arm around Alex’s waist and smiles lovingly at her before turning back to the woman, “Zed, meet my life partner Alex. Alex, meet my ex-partner…” Brooke pauses, turning to look at Alex when she stiffens, “in crime, Zed.” She finishes, laughing.

Shaking her head at Brooke’s antics, Zed steps forward with her hand out to shake Alex’s, “That devilish side is why I say she’s only part angel! You can relax Alex, she’s not my type. Congratulations on finally taming her though!”

“Hey!” Now Alex was smirking. Gleefully, she links her arm through Zed’s and pulls her back to the main room. 

Hank is facing away from them, near Winn’s desk, hands on his hips. As they approach, he swings to the side slightly, revealing a man around Brooke’s age with stubble and dark blond, brushed back hair. As Zed slows to a stop near them, Alex notices she looks back at Brooke expectantly. Frowning, she tenses in anticipation; alert, but for what - she’s not sure. Brooke is chatting happily to Barry and Kara, so intent on learning all about ‘The Flash’ she hasn’t yet sensed the developing emotional tension in the air. Alex switches her attention between the man and Brooke, waiting for the moment they notice each other. The stranger straightens, as if bracing himself, when he catches sight of Brooke in his peripheral vision; he slowly turns to face her as she approaches, hands thrust deep in his pockets. Alex steps towards Brooke, ready to jump in front of her even though she knows it’s ridiculous seeing as, unlike her, she’s neither frailly human _or_ pregnant. When it comes to her partner or her sister her protective instincts seem to rear up in an instant and she’s helpless to resist. The moment Brooke’s eyes make eye contact with the man, a feeling of serenity and peace floods Alex’s senses. Her eyes snap down and her hands jump up to cup her swollen abdomen. Confused, she steps back to the side, waiting and watching to see why their bump is telling her to chill.

The man smiles crookedly at Brooke’s stunned expression, “Well, well. Didn’t think we’d ever see you again Brooke. I guess it’s a bit of role reversal this time, huh love? I’ll be your knight in rusty armour and you can watch _me_ disappear into the sunset…”

“John!” Zed scolds at the same time Brooke gives him a wry smile and rolls her eyes.

Walking over to him, Brooke doesn’t appear to hesitate before gathering him up in a tight hug. The man, John apparently, seems reluctant to reciprocate at first, his hands slowly coming up to wrap around Brooke’s back. Alex side steps slightly to get a better view, she can see his eyes close and his Adam’s apple bob, as if he was swallowing down a lump in his throat maybe. Brooke’s head is resting on his opposite shoulder so she can’t see her face, but she knows that desperate grip. Brooke cares about this man. Alex tries to think back to all the people Brooke had mentioned from her world, wracking her brain to figure out who could have this powerful effect on her stoic partner. Not to mention induce their offspring to chime in as well. 

Brooke pulls away, murmuring something that makes the man laugh self-depreciatingly and shrug at her. Rolling her eyes again, she says something else Alex can’t hear then pulls on his arm, tugging him towards Alex.

“Alex, this is the man who saved me from going mad all those years ago, this is John Constantine. John, this is the love of my life, Alex.” Shaking hands, Alex recalls Brooke mentioning the man that taught her about the world of demons and darkness. Her heart lifts at the thought that they would have some help, even as she worries about how much Brooke seems to idolise him.

**********

They were all seated around two pushed together tables in the largest conference room. Winn explained how he’d sent a multiphasic message out specifically aimed at the universe they knew Brooke came from. The message was to the point and laid out that they were dealing with a demon and needed help. He had included Brooke’s name as well as John’s, remembering she had mentioned him months ago. 

When Cisco found the message, he passed it onto Barry, who luckily knew John from a favour he’d done for Oliver Queen, “We would’ve been here sooner, except John wouldn’t come without Zed and she was on a retreat in Borneo.” Barry declared.

“How _did _you get here though?” Winn asked.__

__“Ah, that’s the interesting part,” Cisco’s face lights up at the prospect of geeking out, “I figured that if sound waves could breach the multiverse without a portal, then all I’d have to do is simulate that in our own atoms whilst simultaneously inducing a shared quantum entanglement between the sending and receiving location …” A red blur and a gust of wind found Cisco unable to speak due to a donut suddenly being in his mouth. He glares at Barry, sitting across from him smiling innocently; Kara breaks into giggles and Alex is hard pushed to stop herself smiling. Hank jumps in before they drive him any crazier, pushing them to refocus on their current situation. Alex sees Winn mouth 'later' to Cisco who grins in return. Making a mental note to be far away from that nerd fest, Alex leans forward to concentrate on their plan._ _

__“From what Hank’s told me it sounds like you have someone who’s figured out how to tether a demon and bind them to their will, using their own blood as well as that of at least one sacrifice. As there are no other forces of darkness that either Zed or I can detect in this universe, I’d say he resurrected the ashes of the one that came though accidentally, more than five years ago.”_ _

__Everyone stares at John then at Brooke. Alex clutches her hand quickly when she sees the look of utter desolation on her partner’s face at John’s proclamation. Seeing Brooke’s expression, John scrambles to assuage her guilt, realising she thought it was her fault for not killing it properly._ _

__“Brooke, this wasn’t your fault. If some bastard had done the same thing in our world they could have resurrected any demon that we had exorcised or destroyed. They did this, not you!” he exclaims, glaring at Brooke intently until she nods imperceptibly and relaxes slightly._ _

__Zed speaks up, “from what I’ve gathered, this person is completely fixated on all of you, although he has an especially vivid need to hurt Brooke,” she shivers slightly. Seeing the various looks of bewilderment, she elaborates for those not in the know, “I’m psychic, I get visions of the present, past or future when I touch people or things. I’ve touched most of you since we got here and I keep getting the same glimpses of all you being pursued by an incredibly angry, shadowy figure. I think he’s indiscernible because he’s hiding behind the demon.”_ _

__“So, this man has a hard-on for me and the rest of them are collateral damage?” Brooke sounds beyond livid. Alex tightens her grip on her, not sure whether she was more furious with the man hiding behind a demon, or with herself for being the epicentre of his fury and putting them in danger. If it were the latter, there was no way she was going to let Brooke run to protect them, not after the last time she contemplated that trick. Zed seemed to sense the same thing, despite not touching Brooke at the moment, “Brooke, even if you draw them out and face the demon alone, he won’t stop after you’re dead. He will carry on until they are all dead!”_ _

__“No one gets sacrificed Brooke…” John vows._ _

__Brooke looks at him for a beat, face taught with tension. Sighing, the lines around her eyes relax and she smirks at him, “What’s your plan then, Obi Wan Kenobi?”_ _

__“We use the force…”_ _

__“Yaassss,” Winn high fives Cisco, “We have another Nerd in town!”_ _

__John scowls at them, stopping them in their tracks, “Never… call me a nerd,” he growls. When they both nod frantically, he starts barking out instructions, “Super speedy twins? Find us a place we can lure the demon without causing innocents to lose their lives. The rest of you ladies? You’re coming with me to interview this Eva Porovia woman.”_ _

__Winn raises his hand timidly, “Er, you’re going to interview a dead woman?”_ _

__Jumping up and rubbing his hands together in glee, John starts to move towards the door, “Yes indeed we are, with the help of a ‘hand of glory’.”_ _

__Brooke’s face brightens, “You brought the man bag?” Zed starts chuckling as John spins back to face her, giving her a scandalised look._ _

__“That ‘Man Bag’ has saved your lives more than a few times, don’t knock it!”_ _

__“What’s a ‘hand of glory’?” Cisco asks._ _

__Zed explains, “It’s the hand of a murderer removed after hanging. When properly prepared, if you say an incantation whilst lighting the fingers then for as long they burn, the dead will rise.”_ _

__“Eew!” Winn manages to look both nauseated and intrigued at the same time. “What are we supposed to do while you’re playing Doctor dead?” asks Cisco.__

Looking at Winn, John quips, “if I were you, I’d ask this one to take you to his leader.”

__Zed cuffs back of his head gently before grabbing Brooke and Alex to pull them up. Insinuating herself between the two of them she encourages them to walk with her, “Let’s go get this day of the dead over with. You can tell me all about how you managed to make a baby between the two of you on the way.”_ _

__“Baby? What baby?” Alex hears John sputter behind her._ _

__**********_ _

__Alex tears herself away from the morgue assistant doing plies in time with the beeping of the open cold-chamber door, “Is she seriously going to just carry on doing that until we leave and not remember anything?”_ _

__“Well, until the alarm stops, yeah,” John throws out flippantly, opening and closing morgue drawers._ _

__“I’ve got her,” Brooke says, looking sick when she pulls back the sheet to reveal glaringly obviously black stiches all around her neck._ _

__“Seriously? You had to decapitate her? Do you know how hard it is to get them to speak properly when you do that?”_ _

__Zed nudges him hard in the small of his back. Reigning in his irritation, John struggles against his nature and tries to show more sensitivity. Brooke looks physically drained at the evidence of her fury lying starkly before her on a morgue gurney, “Lets get this over with,” she croaks, barely looking at any of them._ _

__Drawing the hand of glory from his bag, John wastes no time lighting all the fingers one after the other, snapping his zippo shut he immediately starts the incantation. Within seconds the body on the gurney hurls itself upright, mouth open in a silent scream. John passes the hand of glory to Brooke and leans in, turning the corpse’s head to face him._ _

__“Listen to me, you’re dead. He killed you. You must tell me who he is. I’ll make him pay for what he did to you, just tell me who he is!”_ _

__The corpse’s lips move, a faint whisper emerging from between the death shaded lips, “Tricked me.... Took me, bite, blood… Westfield… Betrayed me… He loved her, not me… but she broke her neck…” a deep rattling breath echoes throughout the dead woman’s torso. John holds her chilled face between his palms, starting intently into the glassy, milk-white orbs. They all hold their breath, hoping against hope that wasn’t all they’d get._ _

__One more fetid breath leaves her lungs, carrying a last gasp of words before the corpse’s eyes slip shut and it slumps again, “The totem, it will break free… You’ll die…”_ _

__The last flame on the thumb dies down, flickers out. Brooke silently hands it back to John and they all troop out of the morgue, past the dancing lab tech._ _

__Back in the fresh air outside, the first light of dawn is just cracking the horizon. Brooke stands with her back to them, arms crossed protectively in front of her. Alex approaches cautiously, tentatively placing her arms around her waist and resting her cheek against her back. They both know who the woman meant when she’d said ‘she broke her neck’. She hadn’t been talking about herself. She’d been talking about Lillian Luthor. Brooke had killed Lillian, and now it seemed the Cadmus leader’s secret lover was set on revenge. A man called Westfield, Paul Westfield if it was the same man whose first name they had found out earlier. Alex wasn’t empathic, but she was sure she could feel the waves of guilt and regret pouring off Brooke._ _

__“Well, the good news is that if we can find the totem and break the blood binding before the demon does, it will drain its energy, and then our shining knight here will have no trouble.” John blurts, ignoring Zed’s frantic gesturing as per usual and walking straight up to Brooke, blowing cigarette smoke towards her face obnoxiously. Brooke narrows her eyes but doesn’t rise to the obvious provocation. Her senses tell her what John would never show externally, that he knew she was struggling with her actions. He was offering support the only way he knew how. God knows he had his fair share of horrific regrets as well. He had always taught Brooke to pick herself back up and face forwards again. Never forget, but never wallow either. This was his subtle kick up the ass._ _

__Dropping her arms to hold onto Alex’s hands, still wrapped around her middle, Brooke takes a moment to just absorb the love and affection that always flows between them. Breathing in deeply, she takes in her scent, dropping her head back to rest against Alex’s as she lifts her chin to rest it on Brooke’s shoulder. Feeling the ghost of a kiss land just in front of her ear, Brooke smiles slightly and lets her breath out, straightening to face John again._ _

__“What if it breaks the bond first?”_ _

__John takes a deep drag on his cigarette, staring at her. Shrugging, he flicks the cigarette away, blowing a twin stream of smoke out of his nose, “Then it will take a lot longer for the unnatural energy the bond gave it to fade, and we’ll be up shit creek without a paddle.”_ _

__Brooke frowns in thought for a moment, “Did you bring Soloman’s ring?”_ _

__John grins, “Not a bad idea. If it breaks free, seal it in a vessel until its energy fades. You have learnt well, young padawan.”_ _

__Brooke snorts, “And to think you told Winn and Cisco you aren’t one of them when actually, you’re the King of the Nerds!”_ _

__

__***********_ _

__

__They get back to the DEO just after six in the morning. Hank engages them in a hasty debrief, exhibiting blatant scepticism about the veracity of the information they gained from a dead woman. Until Zed touches his arm and reassures him with her honeyed tones that is, thinks Alex. Brooke sniggers at her from the other side of the circular table. Smiling wryly, she sticks her tongue out at her then loudly announces she was done for the day. John and Zed agree and head for the shower room with her when Alex expresses the need to ‘clean the stink of the morgue off her’._ _

__Kara had already left to go and stay with Lena, so that Barry and Cisco could have her loft. John and Zed were going to stay at Brooke’s old apartment. When they had announced the accommodation plans, Brooke had felt a wave of discomfort from the two young men. As Kara had previously mentioned they were good friends, it piqued her curiosity. Brooke lifts her nose and tastes the air, intent on finding one of them. Following her nose, she comes across Barry standing at the end of a corridor, leaning against the wall and peering into a lab. Brooke comes up behind him silently. Glancing into the lab, she’s not surprised to see Cisco with Winn, working on some contraption. Clearing her throat quietly to let him know she was there, Barry still starts in surprise, a flush suffusing his cheeks. Brooke smiles sympathetically at him and inclines her head towards the training room, raising one eyebrow in question. Taking one last, wistful look at his friend, Barry nods and shuffles after her._ _

__

__Brooke watches Barry smack at the training dummy half-heartedly. Rolling her eyes at him, Brooke pokes him in the side, “Bet I can stop you.”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“Bet if you run around me as fast as you can… I can stop you.”_ _

__Barry snorts, “I bet you can’t!”_ _

__Sporting a crooked grin, Brooke unleashes her wings and makes a ‘come on’ gesture with her hands._ _

__“Whoah!”_ _

__Laughing, Brooke moves to stand in the centre of the room, “Just run around me and give me a few minutes to study you, then I’ll try.”_ _

__“Ok, you’re on…”_ _

__As Barry starts whooshing around her in a blur of red arcing energy, Brooke stands perfectly still, her eyes closed. Smiling, she lets Barry burn off some energy and stress before she snaps her arm out to her side. The kinetic force when Barry runs into it knocks her in a circle and down to her knees, but Barry is flat on the floor, staring up at her in shock._ _

__“What the hell? How?” he stutters._ _

__“Well, to be fair, if you weren’t so predictable and hadn’t been running in figures of eight, I wouldn’t have been able to sense where you were going to be and calculate how to pre-empt you.” She admits._ _

__Standing and holding her hand out to him she pulls Barry upright. Sitting down at the side of the room she waits for Barry to sink down next to her._ _

__Tilting her head slightly towards him, she murmurs, “You look at Cisco like you’re going to lose him…”_ _

__“In a way, I already did.” Barry grimaces._ _

__“How so?” Brooke asks, confused. She gets more than she bargained for when Barry explains how he created the Flashpoint timeline. Then made it worse trying to fix it. Then he tells her about Cisco’s brother having died and he couldn’t forgive him._ _

__Reaching over, Brooke places her hand over Barry’s on the floor between them, “I think you have to either believe time is fixed in a straight line, meaning there is no escaping fate, or destiny. In which case, you were always meant to go back and make those changes, it was inevitable, unchangeable, therefore there’s no point worrying about it…”_ _

__“Or?”_ _

__“Or, you believe that time is fluid, that its forever changing all around us, that it’s malleable. In which case, what we do now echoes for eternity not because it's fixed and inevitable, but because everything is always and forever possible. Therefore, there’s still no point worrying about it because another chance to make amends will come.”_ _

__Barry continues to stare at their joined hands. Brooke sees a quiet tear drop darken the floor between his knees._ _

__“Which do you believe?” he whispers._ _

__“Oh, I’m definitely a ‘time is a fluid river’ type of girl. Time won't wait for you, or any-one. Barry, you fucked up. We all fuck up at some point. The trick is to just keep swimming, doesn’t even matter which direction as long as it’s not backwards; swimming backwards in a river is pointless, because it's not even the same water anymore by the time you think you’ve got where you’re going.” Barry grins ruefully at this, knowing from hard experience that trying to get back to the exact same point in the past is nigh on impossible._ _

__Brooke swivels around to face him fully, taking his hand in both of hers, “Barry, you have to make the most of every moment and never stop learning and forging onward, even in the painful times. In each moment, you keep the best, and leave the rest. It might feel like you’re swimming sideways, or just fighting to stay still and not getting anywhere. But trust me, the river below you is _never_ still, and no matter what, you _are_ making a difference, just by trying and not giving up.”_ _

__The door to the training room slides open and Brooke glances over to see Alex looking quizzically at them. She thinks she sees Barry blur momentarily next to her, then he comes back into focus, smiling suspiciously brightly at Alex. Brooke smiles internally when she realises he just dashed out to wash away all trace of any tears. When Barry looks over at her as Alex asks if she’s ready to leave, she can still see sorrow in his eyes, although perhaps not as much hopelessness. Barry nods, as if hearing her unspoken question, smiling crookedly before enveloping her in a heartfelt hug._ _

__“Thank you,” she hears whispered in her ear before he’s gone in a rush of air._ _

__“What was that about?”_ _

__Taking Alex’s hand and dropping a kiss on her lips, Brooke leads her out of the DEO, “Hopefully, helping someone to stop waiting for time to fix them, and to just take a leap of faith…”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please ignore the warning signs and do feed me. I needs the feedback, I wants it, must have the precious...
> 
> R x


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work got cancelled for a week - w00h00!! So I should able to get a chapter out every couple of days this week *does happy dance*
> 
> Enjoy :)
> 
> R x

A slight chill still lingers in the air, even through the sun was firmly above the horizon. Not that Kara, standing there frowning at the door bell, could tell - being immune to the cold as she was. This felt very weird, she decided. Chewing on her lip in a manner very reminiscent of her girlfriend’s habit, not that she was aware, she stares at the door a beat longer before looking around surreptitiously. Sighing, she lowers her glasses and squints at the front door, glancing left and right, before smiling and pushing the doorbell with her forefinger firmly. The door to the apartment opens a second later and Zed throws her arms around her, enthusiastically inviting her in.

“Hi!”

“Hi. I, um... I didn’t want to interrupt anything. Agent Danvers said you guys hadn’t slept yet but I just wanted to check you…”

“You can drop the act love, Zed’s touched you. We know who you are, little Miss SuperDanvers,” John calls out from the living room, toasting her with a precariously swaying glass of what smells like whiskey. 

“Wh…What?” Kara’s stutters in shock.

Zed throws a coaster at her subtle as a brick colleague, rolling her eyes when she hears him yelp in protest, “Kara, it’s ok. We would never tell anyone. We understand the need for secrecy in what you do. You don’t need to hide with us though,” Zed pulls her in for a hug again. Kara is quickly getting used to this woman’s mannerisms and comforting presence, she feels very much like Brooke. That realisation causes Kara’s eyes to snap open again. She accepts a drink from her own kitchen, slowly walking towards John until she sinks into the chair opposite where he’s slouched on the sofa.

All three of them sit silently. Zed with a slight smile on her face, her gaze alternating between Kara and John. John stares moodily down into the whiskey glass he dangles between his knees. Kara frowns down into her herbal tea. Sipping her own drink, Zed is starting to wonder whether she would have to start them off when Kara looks up at John and opens her mouth.

“You were close to Brooke when she was in your universe, right?”

“As close as she lets anyone get, yeah. Look, if you want the gossip on all her deep, dark secrets, love, I’m not your man…”

“No, that’s not why I… I mean… do you think she’ll go back with you? When you leave?”

John leans back in his seat, arms spread across the back of the sofa. He takes a moment to observe the girl sitting in front of him, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. Glancing at Zed, he can see her soft heart showing through in the compassionate look she’s directing at the girl. Downing his whiskey, he bangs the glass down on the table between them, making Kara jump slightly.

“Would I like her to? Yes. We fight the darkness every day and she’s the best, absolutely invaluable,” Kara’s face drops. He hears Zed make a sound and twitch forward like she wants to comfort her. Shaking his head, he carries on, “But, do I think she wants to? No, I don’t think she does.” 

For a brief moment, hope flares in Kara’s eyes, then quickly turns to sorrow again, “You guys were like her family, weren’t you? When she lost everyone?”

Zed nudges John with her foot, nodding at him in encouragement. Throwing his hands up he mouths ‘what?’ at her. Seeing her head tip towards where Kara was sitting hunched in on herself, head bowed, John looks up towards heaven in frustration, mouthing swear words to himself under his breath.

“Kara, how we met Brooke... See, my lot turned up at scene where our scrying map said there would be a great evil. There was great evil alright, but we were too late. It had left a trail of slaughtered bodies. It was obvious it was pursing someone, or trying to get back at someone, but we didn’t know who then,” Zed stands and sweeps her cup and John’s glass up. Pointing at Kara’s, she walks quickly to the kitchen when Kara shakes her head, John smiling sadly at her back.

“She hates being reminded of this bit. See, we tracked it to England. Turns out the people in America who died were all tied to someone there on a business trip, we knew it was tracking a woman and we chased her back to her home country, but we were too late, again. All across the south of England, and two places in the north, it’d slaughtered anyone associated with her. Eventually, in a flat near Brighton, we found the ashes of a greater demon along with more bodies, Zed finally got a psychic hit.” Pausing, John looks over at Zed, bustling around doing not a lot in the kitchen, “She felt everything the woman felt, it had slaughtered all her friends and family. She was in so much pain, so despairing, Zed felt it all.”

Kara looks over at Zed as well, her heart clenching, “the woman… it was Brooke?” she whispers.

John smiles sadly, “When I found her, she was sitting on the edge of a cliff in Portsmouth, soaking wet, getting ready to try and jump again. I knew straight away what she was, you tend to develop second sight when you’ve been dabbling long enough. She glowed.” John swallows hard, gratefully taking the glass of amber liquid from Zed’s hand and downing the first inch immediately. Zed sinks down onto the sofa next to him, her hand resting on his knee, both of them needing the contact, neither able to admit it.

“I managed to persuade her to come with us,” Zed clears her throat pointedly, “ _We_ managed to persuade her to come with us. Persuade her that she could be useful, make a difference to others that would otherwise feel the same pain she did.”

“But we were never really her family,” Zed jumps in, holding Kara’s gaze, “I could see her struggling with her loneliness every day, I could feel it every time I touched her. But here? Here she’s finally found a home,” she states forcefully, leaning forward to capture Kara’s hand and squeeze it reassuringly. 

Grinning crookedly, John adds, “As much as I miss someone to stand with me and take all the knocks on my behalf,” Zed snorts and backhands him, causing Kara to giggle slightly, “I would much rather she be happy, Kara. I won’t try and break up your family. To be honest, I don’t think anything could make Brooke leave anyway, she loves your sister. And as much as it still freaks me out to say it, she’s going to be a great Mother.”

Kara smiles gratefully, which turns into an eye roll when John can’t help but add, “besides, if she can get your sister pregnant, who’s to say I’m safe? Eh?”

 

**********

 

Alex turns off the SUV and looks up at the window she know's belongs to Kara's loft. Restlessly drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she argues with herself one last time, knowing that Brooke was probably at home waiting for her and utterly confused as to why she suddenly had to run ‘some errands’. If she did this, she wouldn’t be able to lie to Brooke about it later. Oh, physically she could. She could make her lips say the words and Brooke would give her that knowing look, because of course she would sense the lie. She wouldn’t even have to touch her to sense it now days. But she wouldn’t push it, wouldn’t force Alex to unburden herself, she wasn’t like that. But Alex would know. She’d have to look into Brooke’s eyes every day, knowing she lied to her. God, it sucked having an empathic girlfriend! Alex snorted to herself. No, it didn’t. It was wonderful, amazing, and in truth it made her feel more secure and loved than she ever had before. Not totally secure though, her fears of abandonment were still there. Which isn’t Brooke’s fault, at all, but every now and then it still gnawed away inside her. Getting out of the car, she berated herself for her trust issues. She knew this was ridiculous, that she should just talk to Brooke, but she couldn’t help herself. ‘Suck it up Danvers,’ she thought, knowing she would have to face fessing up later.

She heard what sounded a lot like a whooshing sound when she knocked, as if something very fast was moving around inside Kara’s loft. Crossing her arms and pursing her lips, she got her glare ready even before Barry opened the door. 

“Alex! What a lovely surprise…” Barry gushed, beckoning her in with one arm.

Narrowing her eyes, Alex didn’t say anything. Sweeping the loft with a practiced eye, noting Cisco sitting very upright on the couch, she could practically smell the guilt in the air. Sitting down opposite Cisco, she stayed silent, just staring at him, her training telling her he was the weakest link.

Gulping, Cisco leans back to put more space between him and the fierce woman glaring at him. Out of the corner of his mouth, he mumbles to Barry, “A little help here, pal?”

Sitting down next to him, smiling inanely, Barry tries to distract Alex, “So, Alex, what brings you here? Did you need to talk about something? Need me to speed somewhere? I’m ready, just point me at it…”

Cocking her head, Alex notices Cisco’s eyes slide sideways. She wouldn’t have seen such a quick glance if she wasn’t waiting for one of them to slip up. Leaning forward, she fixes them both with her deadliest glare.

“How much will you give me… for not telling Kara you were going through her childhood photo albums?”

Barry and Cisco both look like a rabbit caught in headlights.

“Busted…”

“Oops.”

“To be fair, you were both very cute!” Barry laughs, “I especially love the one of you buried in the sand with Kara sitting on you, waving her spade in the air. Did she actually give you a choice?” Cisco starts sniggering too. 

Mortified, Alex chucks her cushion at them, even more annoyed when Barry catches it with his superspeed, just like Kara does. Alex can’t help smiling with them, their laughter infectious. Too soon, her face drops again as she thinks about the fact that they aren’t from this Earth. That they’d be returning soon, and possibly taking something incredibly precious with them.

“Alex?” Barry asks, seeing the change in her expression.

Alex can feel a stinging in the corner of her eyes. Her embarrassment multiplies ten-fold and she shoots out of the chair. Walking rapidly over to the window, she keeps her back to the room while she tries to get a grip on herself.

A few minutes pass and she realises how quiet it’s gotten behind her. Swallowing hard and blinking a few more times, she forces herself to turn around. Barry is alone on the sofa, one leg crooked up under him and his left arm across the backrest, propping his chin up. He’s watching her with such understanding in his eyes that she feels herself well up again. Shaking her head and laughing at herself, she plops down on the other end of the sofa. Feeling self-conscious, she fiddles with the end of the blanket that was draped over the back of the sofa, not looking up. A hand comes into her line of vision, hesitantly settling over hers and stilling it.

“Alex? What’s wrong?”

Half-laughing, half-huffing at herself, Alex blurts out, “I’m paranoid, jealous and insecure. That’s what’s wrong!”

“O-K…”

Looking up, a tear escapes down her cheek. Barry only looks concerned for her though and she can’t bring herself to hide or make excuses; she needs to let this out, and Barry seems as safe a person as any, not knowing Brooke very well himself.

“I’m so scared I’m going to lose her Barry.”

“Brooke?” he checks, brow drawn.

Nodding, she hiccups a laugh and wipes her face, “You saw how she reacted to John and Zed. That was her life, they saved her. Now here they are? With a way to return home?”

Smiling understandingly, Barry shuffles forwards slightly so he can hold both her hands, “Alex, I don’t know Brooke that well,” Alex nods agreement, “But I do know you a bit, and up until today, I wouldn’t have thought you were an idiot…”

Alex frowns as she processes that, realising a beat later he was calling her an idiot, “Hey!”

Barry laughs at her attempts to smack him as he zips out of the way, “Alex, even I can see the way she looks at you, she thinks the world of you. I don’t think there is anything, in any of our worlds, that could make her leave your side, especially with Bump on her way.”

“Oh, for Mothers love…. Not you as well? I swear that’s going to end up being her name!”

 

**********

 

Alex pulls her key out of the lock and closes the door. Pulling her jacket off to hang it up she realises she can hear banging and clanking from the kitchen. She freezes. Brooke in the kitchen is never a good sign, Brooke loathes cooking _and_ cleaning. In the past, she’d used the kitchen to work out her anger. Which meant Brooke wasn’t waiting patiently, a bit confused or bewildered, she was upset with her. Crap. Turning to face the music, she can see Brooke stirring furiously at the stove, her back to her. Sitting gingerly on a stool at the counter, she waits for her partner to speak to her. It’s not a matter of having to alert her that she’s there, Brooke always knows. Right now, the problem is Brooke’s too pissed off to talk. Hanging her head, she traces the pattern in the marble worktop with her fingernail. A plate slams down in front of her, loaded with pancakes. Startled, she looks up to find Brooke glaring at her, her eyes suspiciously shiny. Holding her hand up to preclude Alex saying anything just yet, Brooke shakes her head, pointing at the plate.

“Eat first, I need to think for a while…”

Nodding her understanding, Alex starts to mechanically shove the pancakes into her mouth. They were delicious, even so they felt like they were clogging Alex’s throat every time she had to swallow. When she’d finished, she cleared up the kitchen, stalling. Hands in her back pockets, she reluctantly drags herself into the lounge, where her partner was sitting at the far end of the sofa, head in her hands. When Brooke looks up at her, her face a picture of misery, all she wants to do is hold her, but she feels she can’t yet.

“Alex, I know I fucked up when I wanted to run and lead the demon away. I know you were angry at me, and you were well within your rights to be. But we talked about it. You knew I was scared silly about losing you, any of you. Even so, I made a promise to never contemplate doing that again without talking to you first, didn’t I?”

Alex nods, feeling a sick feeling start in the pit of her stomach. She sinks down onto the other end of the sofa, never taking her eyes off her lover.

“Alex... Do you trust me?”

“God, Brooke! Of course I do!”

“Really?” Brooke’s tone of voice and stony expression turn that sick feeling into a knot of fear, “Really? Then why am I getting two phone calls, from two different people, telling them my family have been to see them because they’re worried I’m going to piss off and leave them?” she shouts.

“Two? Who else went to see Barry?”

“That’s what you’re going to focus on? For fucks sake Alex. Neither you, nor Kara, even thought about coming to speak to me, did you? Jesus Christ, what the hell have I got to do to prove myself?”

Everything feels knotted and tied up inside Alex. She’s never seen Brooke this angry or irrational before. She was always the calm in the storm. Whenever she’s been angry with her before, she would just explain why and then wait patiently for Alex to figure her shit out. This version of her partner, with clenched jaw and biting tone? Nope, no idea how to deal with this one. In retrospect, doing what she always did when she was out of her depth probably wasn’t the best way to deal with it. Years of conditioning took over before she could even think about what she was doing, years of pushing people away before they could let her down, hurt her, not see her.

“What have you got to do? How about give us back those two years you spent hiding from me? How about not think about running away whenever a big bad shows up? How about not offering yourself up as a sacrifice every two seconds? How about recognising that I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself before you came along so I’m obviously still capable of it now? Huh? How about that for a start?” she screamed at her stunned lover.

Brooke’s head rears back as if she had been physically struck. She stands up and staggers to the other side of the room, facing the window, breathing heavily.

Alex sits frozen, a buzzing sound in her ears. 

“Is that what you really think Alex? That I’m a suicidal coward who thinks you’re incapable?” Brooke croaks.

Internally, she can hear a weeping, begging version of herself; screaming at her to say something, to take it back. Externally, she sits in silence; watching in horror as she sabotages the best thing that ever happened to her.

Brooke looks towards her, her face a picture of sorrow, tears pouring down her face. Alex’s own heart breaks as she sees Brooke’s eyes dull slightly, like a light was dimming behind them. The screaming in her head reaches a volume that actually makes her wince and she finally starts to stand, only for Brooke to rush past her in a gust of wind, her wings emerging as she throws open the balcony door and disappears into the dawn.

Standing there, staring at the curtains snapping in the breeze, Alex feels a strange sensation. Her hands fly to her belly, cupping it tenderly. The fluttering sensation starts again and she feels a distinct nudge against her palm from inside her. When she realises their baby, their little bump, has just kicked for the first time, a huge, awestruck smile spreads across her face. Looking towards the balcony again, the smile morphs into an open mouth sob when she also realises that the one person that should be there to witness this too, that should be feeling it for the first time too, is not there, because of her. Falling onto the sofa, Alex sobs heart-wrenchingly into the cushions, her arms wrapped around her abdomen as their daughter silently, but persistently, continues to let her know she’s there with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My muse did it, don't blame the messenger! :-O


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, new chapter up! Might have a few mistakes as I didn't spend long editing, my bad. I'll review and edit again tomorrow hopefully...
> 
> As Alex and Brooke are currently in the midst of an argument (sad face), I threw some SuperCorp in there for ya ;)  
> Hope you enjoy.
> 
> R x

Alex drags herself into the DEO in the afternoon. Her eyes are puffy and swollen despite the copious amounts of cold water she’s splashed on them. She knows she looks like shit, but staying home with no distractions just wasn’t an option today, even if it is Sunday. Head down she makes a beeline to her lab. Logging on to the classified system, she brings up the security ID system to display the records of everyone who entered the DEO since seven that morning. Scrolling through the faces and names, her heart skips a beat when a familiar half smile and amber eyes stare out of the screen at her. 

**#EntryLog# Knight, Brooke. [Security Lv 8] - {Voice print verified 49069-221: 07:21}**  
**#ExitLog# Knight, Brooke. [Security Lv 8] - {Voice print verified 49069-221: 08:46}**

She sits staring back at the image on her screen for a while. She’d been and gone over four hours ago by the looks of it. Alex had tried calling her several times, every time it went to voicemail. She taken to texting her when she couldn’t bear hearing Brooke’s cheerful, teasing voice on the recorded message one more time. Nothing. Not even a request to leave her alone. A tiny, nagging sensation in her gut tells her to go and talk to someone, anyone. To at least find out from Kara if she’d had any contact with her or if she’d said anything. Time ticks by and Alex remains still and silent, captivated by her lover’s image that continues to mock her with its promise of happiness. 

Hearing the door to the lab open, she jerkily shuts the screen down and grabs at a folder next to her, trying to look busy.

“Alex? Want to tell me why Brooke came in here hours ago, and left without saying a word, and why you look like something the cat dragged in?” Looking over her shoulder she sees Hank standing behind her, his arms crossed and his serious ‘Dad’ face in full effect. That was yet another punch to the gut on top of everything else. She still felt closer to Hank than her own father thanks to Cadmus keeping Jeremiah hostage for half her life. Most days, she felt grateful that she had a chance to get to know her Dad again, whilst also having Hank to support and guide her. Today though, it just made her feel even more like she was destined for no one to ever stick by her. 

“It’s nothing, it will sort itself out.” She mumbles.

Hank sits down next to her, ducking his head, trying to find her eyes, “Will it?”

Damn him. He always knows how to get straight to the heart of the matter, straight to _her_ heart. Alex’s throat tightens, desperate to hold the tears at bay, “Hank, I can’t… please…” she pleads, hoping he would go away and let her lose herself in work. Let her not think, just for a little while. 

“Alex,” Hank leans closer, resting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently, “It won’t get better if you ignore it.”

Unable to deny the tears anymore, she holds her head in her hand, elbows resting on the work surface. She catches the tears in her palms before they reach the desk, as if somehow, by denying them that final resting place, she can deny the pain that caused them, “I didn’t trust her, again. She shows me over and over that I can trust her and every time… I fucked up again Hank, and I don’t know if she’ll forgive me this time.”

“What happened?”

“I went to see Barry, to ask him if he thought Brooke would go back with them, to Earth 1,” laughing forlornly she adds, “and apparently, my own sister doesn’t trust her either, because she went to see John and asked exactly the same thing. Then they both called Brooke to tell her, ‘Hey, did you know your family thinks you’re going to do a runner? What have you done to make them think that?’ and you know what the worst thing is? The answer is she hasn’t done one fucking thing wrong except love me!” by the end she is facing Hank, thumping her fist against her chest and yelling; at herself, at Brooke for letting her fuck it up, at Hank because he was there. 

Everything hurt inside, she felt raw, like her skin had been flayed and even the air was stinging. When she feels another little nudge, this time pushing against her navel, she falls against Hanks chest, letting him take the burden of her weight for a while, “Hank, what if she doesn’t forgive me this time? I’ve done this to her so many times…”

“Brooke understands abandonment more than most Alex. I’ve seen inside her mind, she knows where your insecurities come from. For her to have stormed off and not dealt with it, you must have triggered some of her own insecurities about not being good enough.”

Wide eyed, Alex stares at him. Brooke felt she wasn’t good enough? “Oh fuck…”

Hank smiles wryly, “I take it you said some things that played into that a little too well?”

“Shit… Where is she Hank?”

“She’s at the NCPD, using her empathy to help heal the victims of the demon corruption. Let her come to you Alex, she’ll come back to the DEO to debrief later.”

Alex searches his eyes, looking for reassurance. Hank just smiles serenely down at her. Giving in and trusting that Brooke is a better person than she is when it comes to forgiveness, she sinks down onto her stool again, “Where’s everyone else?”

“Winn and Cisco are working on disruptors to try and block the demon’s telepathy; Barry and Maggie are at the club collecting forensic evidence; John and Zed are making a Solomon’s seal. Eliza and Jeremiah are assisting Barry and the pathology labs at NCPD; Kara and James are researching Paul Westfield to try and pinpoint possible locations for a sting.”

Alex smiles faintly, “Wow, since when did we have such a big team huh?” Hank smiles in return, “So what are we doing then?” Alex asks, pointing between them both. 

“We… are doing reports,” Hank says, his smile turning into a grin when Alex groans.

 

**********

 

Kara is lying on the couch in Lena’s amazing upscale, retro apartment. Patting herself on the back, metaphorically, for telling James she would pursue her external contacts, she nevertheless feels guilty at taking a time out with her girlfriend. Although, she’s partially distracted from her internal reprimands by the thought that she has a glass of red wine really close to a pristine white leather sofa, and the rest of her is completely distracted by an armful of beautiful woman reclining against her. 

Lena’s head is resting on her left shoulder, her left arm wrapped around Kara’s leg and her right arm draped over her other leg, a glass of wine nestled in her palm hanging off the side of the couch. Kara is fascinated by Lena’s neck. The sweeping arch of flawless milky-white skin is inches from her lips and she can’t tear her gaze away. Feeling a sense of loss when Lena sits up and leans over to place her glass on the coffee table, she sighs with pleasure when Lena lays back down and her weight settles against Kara again. 

Wrapping her left arm around Lena’s waist, running her other hand up Lena’s arm, under the loose short sleeve of her blouse to cup her shoulder, Kara gives in to the urge she’s been having for the last half hour and runs her lips up Lena’s neck to behind her ear. She smiles when she feels Lena’s body tense and her back arch upward slightly. Bringing her hand over her shoulder she pops the first two buttons of her blouse open as she takes her earlobe between her teeth and nibbles gently on it.

“Ka-ra…?” Lena gasps out between breaths, her hands tightening on Kara’s thighs as her lips get even more insistent on her neck.

“Hmm?” Kara hums against her skin in response, evoking another drawn out gasp from Lena.

“I thought you wanted to talk about her network of illicit… ooh!”

Kara gentles her hold on Lena’s nipple, smirking at how easy it is to derail Lena’s train of thought. As she brings her tongue into play, she snakes the hand around her waist lower, beneath her skirt, until she encounters her warm centre. 

Lena is beyond caring about whatever Kara had originally rung on the door bell for, only wanting her to touch her the way she needs to be touched now. Wriggling until her skirt rides up her hips, she hooks her legs either side of Kara’s, offering herself to her. Kara’s breathing increases to match Lena’s heaving gasps as she takes in the wanton sight lying before her. Groaning in need she pushes into her with two fingers, her own hips bucking up into Lena’s ass as she feels how ready she is. Lena cries out in pleasure, turning her face to seek Kara’s mouth, her right arm coming up to grip the back of Kara’s head and hold her in place as she desperately ravages her mouth. It doesn’t take long for Lena to come so hard she sees spots in front of her eyes. Taking a moment to recover, she flips over and immediately pushes up Kara’s skirt, disappearing beneath it. Within minutes Kara is crying out to Rao and holding onto the arm of the sofa for dear life. A creaking sound warns of its imminent demise just as Kara comes. 

Lena can’t help but laugh when she sees Kara frantically trying to realign the struts to get it to stay in place. Collapsing on her, she stills her hands and smirks at her. The sheepish expression on Kara’s face tickles her until she’s laughing uncontrollably, Kara joining in eventually and they are left breathless and content in each other’s arms. As they doze off, Lena enjoying being able to lay indefinitely on her alien girlfriend, Kara remembers she needed to ask about the mystery man.

“Lena?” Kara asks, craning her neck to look down at the tangle of dark hair across her chest.

“Hmm?” she sleepily responds.

“Do you know a Paul Westfield in relation to your Mother?”

Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Lena frowns down at Kara, “Why do you want to know about that odious slime ball?”

Kara’s face lights up in excitement “You know him?”

“Of course I know him. My mother was shagging him on and off for years, even when she was with father. He was running several under the radar labs. Up until I shut down a lot of the funding and cut him off that is.”

Pushing Lena up as gently as she could, Kara rearranged her clothes and her own. Grasping Lena’s arms lightly she gazed her at seriously, “Lena, we think he’s behind the Demon attacks. He’s found a way to resurrect and control the demon that came through with Brooke over five years ago. We need to find him urgently! Can you help us?”

Her initial irritation at how their lovemaking was taking such as serious turn fades as she contemplates the look Kara’s giving her. She needs her. She can help, be the good guy. The pleasure suffusing her body has a different source now, but it was still just as motivating. 

“Of course, darling. Give me a few minutes to shower and change. I have the details of all of his lairs at the office.” Kissing her briefly on the lips she darts off to get ready while Kara texts Hank to let him know they may have news soon.

 

**********

 

Pushing through the darkness, Brooke found the brightness. Memories of growing up in San Diego, playing on the beaches. A favourite dog that used to play in the waves all day then sneak in and sleep in the bed at night. Wishing she could stay here, warm and safe in the light, Brooke takes a deep breath and forces herself to go on. Pulling back from the comfort she turns and races through innumerable memories, through happy and sad ones, past pain and pleasure; eventually, Brooke finds the horror. Focusing all her mental power, she gathers the happy memories around her, their light brilliant in her minds eye; bracing herself she turns to the black, pulsing corruption, she harries it from all sides, chipping away at its cankerous edges, each tiny piece being devoured by the bright energy surrounding it. For a long time, it feels like there’s no progress, like there would never be an end to it. Slowly, so slowly, the rot is diminished, piece by piece. By the time its nearly disappeared, Brooke can feel sweat trickling down her body, her jaw aches from being clenched and her lower back is seizing from holding herself in the same position for so long. At last, the lesion is gone. Gratefully, she pulls out completely, her hands dropping limply to her sides as she slumps in the chair.

The man on the chair in front of her is rocking backward and forwards, tears cascading down his cheeks. The woman in the business suit, with caramel eyes to match her complexion, is sitting to one side, looking from Brooke to the man and back again in awe. Brooke can hear the man muttering under his breath.

“Ave María… Gracias Señora… Gracias a Dios!”

She can’t understand the words, but as the man is smiling and reaching out to grasp her hand, pumping it up and down over and over, she assumes it worked. Smiling weakly, she allows the man to pull her out of the chair, even though she feels her knees might buckle at any moment. She can hear the door open behind her and a quiet conversation between two feminine voices. Then Maggie is there, helping to gently extricate her from the man.

“Sergeant Costa? You ok?”

“Yes, yes Detective. Thank you. I feel amazing,” turning back to Brooke he gives her a dignified mini bow, bending slightly at the waist and holding his right hand to his heart, “Thank you Señora. I can never repay you for saving my soul, but know that you are in our prayers every day.”

Allowing the police therapist to escort him out, Sergeant Costa takes his leave. Maggie pushes the therapist from the room too and Brooke can hear them murmuring again; she was too exhausted to even try and listen in. Falling back into the chair and sinking down until her legs were splayed in front of her, she tips her head back until it rests uncomfortably on the wooden top rail. Now that she wasn’t buried in someone’s else memories, her own came crowding back again. Sighing, she wished for the millionth time that day that she could go back in time and deal with Alex completely differently. She didn’t know what to do though. They constantly triggered each other’s insecurities. Did that mean they weren’t good for each other? Or did it mean that they just had to talk more, try harder? Closing her eyes, Brooke let her mental exhaustion wash over her, let herself cry for a moment, knowing instinctively Maggie had come to take her to task, to protect her from herself. It was a testament to how exhausted she was that she actually welcomed the intervention.

Hearing chair legs scrape across the floor, she peels her eyes open to see Maggie smiling softly at her, her look too knowing for Brooke to not rise to it.

“What?”

“What did you say to each other this time?”

Brooke stares at Maggie for a second. Barking out a laugh she tiredly rubs her eyes, “Same as we normally do, versions of, ‘I’m scared you’ll leave me, willingly or not’ and, ‘I’m scared I’m not good enough for you and you’ll realise that or I’ll let you down’,” she admits, defeated and miserable; wanting more than anything to be in Alex’s arms and not knowing how to get there.

“You want my advice?”

“I suspect you’re going to give it to me whatever I say…” Brooke snorts.

“You suspect right. Alex left me because I didn’t feel enough. Now, she’s scared of you being able to feel too much,” when she sees Brooke frowning, she leans in, resting her hands on Brooke’s knees, “Alex has never felt like she was enough since Kara came along, so she tries to be perfect at everything to get approval, but it didn’t work. Her dad left, then her Mom left emotionally for a while. Then she went to college and had her first fucked up relationships and they left.”

Brooke nods, she knows Alex has abandonment issues, so does Kara after losing her whole world as a teenager. Maggie smiles in a way that Brooke can see means she is actually annoyed as hell with her. Frowning, she quirks her head at Maggie; she obviously wasn’t getting the point yet. Maggie sees her waiting for more and looks down for a minute, gathering her thoughts. 

“When Alex realised she felt different, that intimacy with guys didn’t do anything for her, she gave up. She shut down her emotions and ploughed everything into her sister, the one person she could guarantee wouldn’t leave her. She’s only just got everyone back, only just discovered herself… and the woman she’s in love with, has such a saviour complex that she keeps trying to kill herself helping other people when all Alex wants is for her to be safe and be with _her_!”

Brooke’s eyes widen like she’s just had an epiphany. She literally smacks herself in the head with her own hand, “I’m such an idiot. I kept thinking I wasn’t good enough for her, so I kept pushing myself to try and prove that I was, that I was a hero, that I was worth her love. The whole time I was just feeding into her insecurities!”

“Ya think?” Maggie threw out, her face a picture of frustration.

“I gotta go, I need to see her,” Brooke gets up, ready to leave immediately.

“Hold your horses, that’s what I came to get you for. Kara and Lena found out where he’s liable to be hiding out with the totem. A ranch in Nevada. They’ve mobilised and Hank wants you to meet him there.”

“Is Alex going?”

“Yup,” reports Maggie, her eyes tight.

Gritting her jaw Brooke grabs her jacket and pulls Maggie with her, “Lets go!” she barks out, practically running to the car park and taking off as soon as she feels Maggie put her arms around her shoulders.

**********

Landing in the desert behind the row of SUVs carrying the tactical teams thirty minutes later, Brooke gently lowers a shaken and windswept Maggie to the floor. 

“Jesus, I know you want to see her but damn! Warn a girl next time, will you?”

“Sorry,” Brooke grins at her, hurrying off, sniffing the air to find her partner. 

She finds her in a group around Hank that includes Kara, John and Barry. Hank glares at her and makes a pointed comment about her timing. Shrugging, she explains she was trapped in a man’s mind and couldn’t hurry it for fear of permanently disabling him. The whole time she’s talking with Hank, she can’t take her eyes off Alex, standing the other side of the circle from her, desperate to be able to talk to her before the mission starts.

Alex feels it as soon as Brooke lands, even though she can’t see her yet. When she joins the briefing circle and makes eye contact, it’s like a weight that was pressing on Alex’s chest without her knowing is lifted. Studying her expression, she feels light headed when she recognises love in Brooke’s eyes. Blinking, she refocuses her hearing on the mission outline, never once taking her eye contact away from her lover. 

The plan was that Team A, consisting of Kara, Hank and Barry, would be on point. Team B, which was Alex, John, Zed and Brooke, would back them up once they gained entry to the ranch and cover them while they swept each floor and room. The rest of the DEO agents would surround the property. The intel led them to believe Westfield was hiding out here and had an underground facility two miles north, which was probably where he was keeping the demon. So, it was a good bet that the house ahead was where he was hiding the totem. Once they found the totem, Kara or Barry would remove it and use superspeed to get it back to the DEO for containment until John and Zed could figure out how to break the spell. If that happened, then all teams would evacuate and retreat immediately. 

Hank emphasised repeatedly that Team B was back up only and that they should only become involved in the event of a contingency. Alex could see Brooke got the hint. They didn’t expect the demon to be here, so no heroics from her today. When Brooke winked at her and shrugged, Alex couldn’t help but snort with laughter suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention briefly. Commanding herself to get a grip, she realises how close to the knife edge she is when she sees Brooke frown and take a small step towards her, as if she couldn’t help herself from reacting to Alex’s emotional state. Shaking her head subtly and making a tiny ‘stay’ gesture with her hand, she finally shifts her gaze so she can focus and listens to Hank outline the last few checks, as in what to do if there was a bomb, or an alarm they couldn’t deactivate and so on.

When the circle breaks up, she has to walk past Brooke to get to the armoury van and gear up. It causes her near physical pain to have to hurry past her so as to not delay the teams. As she passes close enough to feel her body heat, she draws in a ragged breath that turns to a gasp when she feels Brooke grab her hand and stop her in her tracks. Looking back along her outstretched arm, she raises her eyes to meet Brooke’s fierce look. The need to just step in to her and hold her is nearly overwhelming. 

Brooke sees the same need in her partner as she feels. Thoroughly resenting this mission, she needs to at least make sure Alex knows how she still feels before they embark on it, “I love you!” she states with as much conviction as she can.

Alex’s face lights up, smiling brightly at Brooke, “I love you too, so much. We’ll fix this, then we’ll fix us, right?”

“Always,” Brooke smiles.

Standing motionless, time ceases for a moment as they stare at each other. Sound and motion come rushing back in and they both startle at the same time. Smiling sheepishly, they slowly let their hands slip apart, touching fingertips until the last second. Taking their positions, they exchange glances for as long as they can until the need for stealth intrudes, both wishing this was over already as they move forwards with their team towards the enemy base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, what are they gonna find? :-O


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain aches, so I have nothing witty to say here :-O
> 
> Hope you enjoy..
> 
> R x

Alex stops and takes cover in a natural dip in the sand just before the wire fence surrounding the property, giving her some cover from the windows of the ranch whilst still affording a good view. Holding her fist up to let her team know to hunker down, she can see Brooke hug the ground about ten metres to her left, Zed doing the same about the same distance to her right. John was out of sight beyond a hillock past Zed, Alex hoped like hell he would follow orders. Lifting her gun, she steadies it with her left hand, her trigger finger hovering just outside the guard. She can see Kara hovering about twenty feet above the front entrance, waiting for Hank’s signal. Kara had tried using her x-ray vision, but it seems Westfield had thought of that and the walls and roof were lined with lead, so they were having to go in blind. Tension makes Alex’s hand shake slightly; shifting her position minutely she forces herself to relax so she can hold her aim steady in support of her sister. Hearing her mike click, she tenses again as Kara swoops down and forces entry through the door as quietly as she can; from the corner of her eye, she can see Brooke rise on her haunches to position herself like a sprinter. Unable to see Kara once she’s in the building proper, Alex turns to watch Brooke.

Brooke closes her eyes, straining to listen, blocking out the night sounds of crickets chirruping and snakes slithering through the undergrowth. Filtering out the susurration of cloth rubbing against cloth, whispers of sand crunching softly under feet. She can hear Kara whispering to Hank that the front rooms are clear, then she hears Barry call out softly that no one is in the back either. When she hears Hank also call the all clear, she opens her eyes, breathing freely again. Nodding to Alex, her partner leads them out, taking point and moving in a low crouch towards the front entrance, still holding her gun at the ready just in case. Zed moves in after her and Brooke can see John coming in low across the yard from the East. Waiting for them to stop moving, she listens one last time then nods for them to go inside.

Alex crosses the threshold slowly, leading with her gun arm, maintaining her alertness regardless of the all clear. John and Zed move towards Kara and Barry waiting in the hallway. Brooke brings up the rear. Sniffing deeply, she opens her mouth to taste the air as well. The most pervading odours present are dust and mildew. Frowning, she slips to the left, into the dining room. Taking in the scene, her frown deepens. Something feels off. Looking around carefully, she passes through the archway leading to the lounge, her gaze darting everywhere, trying to pinpoint what was triggering her intuition. Alex finds her a few minutes later, standing in front of the dresser, her eyes flicking between the photos standing on the shelves and the bowl of fruit on the coffee table.

“Brooke? What is it?”

Still staring in silence at the ornaments and pictures on the dresser, Brooke doesn’t answer for a moment. Alex hears her com's system and answers Hank briefly, telling him to wait, Brooke might have something. 

Brooke can vaguely hear everyone converging on her location. Something is nagging at her about the photos. Lunging forward, she picks one of the wooden frames up, flipping it over and yanking the metal clasps out of the way to reveal the back of the picture inside. Spinning around Brooke shoves the picture into Alex’s hand as she darts past her, skidding to a halt in front of the coffee table. Snatching up an apple, she inspects it briefly before she laughs and throws it at Kara, who catches it reflexively.

“Er, thanks Brooke but I’m not hungry,” she jokes before looking down at the piece of fruit in her hand again, confused, “wait, this is plastic.”

Alex looks down at the photo in her hand. It’s cheap paper and has a business address and number on the back. Looking back up at Brooke, her eyes widen as she realises what she’s thinking.

“It’s all fake!”

Smirking, Brooke nods while the rest of them still seem lost.

“What do you mean, fake?” John asks.

“It’s too perfect, like a show home. No one lives here, it’s all window dressing…” Brooke explains.

“Then where is he? The other properties show no activity.” Alex throws the picture down on the coffee table and looks at Hank, “What was the intel on the activity here?” 

Crossing his arms and staring down at the phoney fruit bowl Hank answers, “Deliveries, like groceries and some minor building materials.”

“Kara?” Alex mimes slipping glasses down her nose and looking around.

Kara takes the hint and begins slowly sweeping the whole house with her x-ray vision from top to bottom. Gasping she looks up at Alex, her eyes wide, “The entire floor is reinforced with lead lining!”

Hank smiles in satisfaction, “There must be a basement.”

They all start to search for hidden entrances. In the utility room, Zed says can sense a metallic taste to the air, which might indicate a spell. When John notices Brooke taste the air and nod agreement, he delves into his bag of tricks. Creating a circle on the floor he stands within it, burning an awful smelling herb and reciting an incantation in Latin. Several glyphs begin to shine on the floor. One directly beneath his feet begins to brighten until the group has to shield their eyes from the blinding light. As it fades, they open their eyes again to find John standing on top of a metal trapdoor, grinning at them.

Hank and Kara use brute force to open it, revealing a vertical shaft down into a corridor seemingly carved from the rocks beneath the desert. Alex feels a shiver go down her spine as the dank, moist air seeps towards them from the depths of the secret passageway. A sense of foreboding overtakes her and she has to concentrate to not reach blindly for Brooke, desperate to stop her going down there. To her relief, Hank elects himself, Kara and Barry to check it out first. Alex can’t help but feel guilty at letting her sister go down there when she was willing to try and physically stop Brooke from doing so, trying to comfort herself with the knowledge that Kara’s much faster than Brooke. Alex and Brooke stand either side of the open trapdoor, watching two of the people they care about most descend into its shadowy depths. Hank goes last, ordering them to only come after them, guns blazing, if they hadn’t returned or made contact in fifteen minutes.

 

**********

 

Barry and Kara speed down the corridor, Hank right behind them. After what feels an eternity but is probably less than five minutes, they come to a thick steel door with no obvious way of opening it, except for possibly a sealed hatch to one side, also with no obvious opening mechanism. Kara mimes punching through it, Hank shakes his head and point at his ears. Too noisy. Barry pushes them out of the way, winking confidently when the others looks at him questioningly. Barry uses his speed to phase his hand slightly, pushing through the material of the hatch and short circuiting the electronic lock. Kara mouths ‘awesome’ at him at the door slides quietly into its recess in the rock. 

The door opens into a cavernous room, as large as a ballroom, with a ceiling stretching high over their heads. Pillars every ten metres or so along either side of the room extend into the rafters, curving into intricately decorated arches and frescoes. The whole room is incredibly ostentatious, made more so by twin oak doors at one end that were over two metres tall and a huge marble slab of a desk at the other end with what looks like an honest to God throne behind it. Seated within its jewel encrusted finery is a man who looks to be in his late fifties, his hair still a rich brown colour except for two wings of silver arching back from above both ears. His nose is long and slightly crooked, as if it had been broken, his chin chiselled. He could have been considered handsome, were it not for the sneer that adorned his face and the obvious cruelty in his eyes.

Kara and Barry move to stand in front of the desk. Kara affects her Supergirl pose, hands on hips, Barry stands in a loose-limbed manner, his hands to his sides, ready to burst into superspeed at a moment’s notice.

“Westfield?” Kara queries, sure that he’s who they’d been looking for, “It’s over, where’s the totem?”

Sniggering, the man lifts his hands from behind the desk to place a wooden statue, about twenty centimetres in diameter and about fifty centimetres tall, on the desk. The totem seems to be made of dark wood, with intricate patterns carved in every surface. In each of these carved etchings, Kara can see a dark, oily substance - deep red, like dried blood - it oozes along each groove as if seeking something, or someone. 

“It’s right here Supergirl, come and get it.”

Hank had been circling around the room, ready to approach Westfield from a different angle, should a frontal attack fail. The man had obviously been trained to resist psychic force as Hank was having a hard time reading him, until he got closer; Hank’s face reflects the horror he feels in his mind as he realises what Westfield has planned, his face drains of blood, “Supergirl, it’s a trap, go! Both of you!”

Too late, all three sink to their knees as the double doors slam open and a roiling mass of putrid blackness slithers into the room, its corrupting influence already taking them over.

“Oh yes indeed, it is a trap. I was hoping to get the winged fiend as well. No matter, we can find her later. For now, I’ll enjoy watching my pet make you rip each other to pieces.”

 

**********

 

They wait uneasily. Brooke and Alex sneaking glances at each other and wishing like hell they could just hold each other. As John and Zed drift further towards the kitchen, their glances last longer until eventually they are just gazing at each other. Normally, when Brooke looks into Alex’s eyes, she feels a sense of peace. Now, however, her unease continues to grow. Feeling jumpy, she can’t quite place where this disquiet is stemming from, near certain it’s not from their argument. She can feel it building, like a wave. Alex starts to frown and move toward her, noticing Brooke’s discomfort, just as the hairs on the back of Brooke’s neck stand on end and her skin starts to crawl.

“Oh God,” Brooke gasps, reaching out to Alex hopelessly even as an excruciatingly malevolent evils crests over them, overwhelming their senses, “Alex!” 

Alex’s mouth opens in a silent scream as she sinks to her knees, clutching her abdomen with both hands. Out of the corner of her eye she can see John and Zed, faces twisted in snarls of malice, draw their guns and turn towards her. Helpless to react, incapacitated by the pain in her belly, she closes her eyes, bracing herself for the shots. Instead she feels herself grabbed roughly and hauled through the air into the lounge. Landing behind the sofa, she opens her eyes in time to see Brooke’s white, panicked face as she pulls the sofa over to shield her from the bullets. Alex can see her counting under her breath. As soon as she whispers eighteen, she surges out from under the shredded couch and leaps at their friends, unable to do anything else under the circumstances except knock them unconscious and hope they’d be ok later.

Rushing back to Alex and dropping down beside her, Alex can see Brooke’s distress as she looks between the trapdoor and her, back and forth, “Alex, Kara’s down there, but you’re here… and I don’t… I can’t…” Brooke trails off, searching Alex’s eyes for help, unwilling to just leave and let Alex think she was willingly sacrificing herself again.

“We both go and get her!”

Brooke stares down at her abdomen, which seems to be even more distended than usual, “Alex, please…” Brooke starts to beg, her tone anguished.

“We both go!” Alex insists, “you go down first and stay in front of me.” Nodding down at her belly, she carries on laying down the law, “she’ll keep me safe from the corruption, you’ll keep me safe from bullets, and I’ll watch over you both, ok? We do this together or not at all!”

Brooke nods reluctantly, her expression telling Alex exactly how much she hates this plan. She leads the way, descending slowly but surely, determined to end this once and for all and bring them all home safe. 

 

**********

 

As they creep along the corridor, Brooke begs Alex to reconsider, trying to explain that Kara and the others would already be overcome. Alex insists that she can help as she isn’t affected, refusing to listen to Brooke’s pleas that only she could touch the demon and Alex would be helpless still. Pushing Brooke to face forward and keep moving, Alex trains her gun past her shoulder, staring at her partner’s back. She knows Brooke’s right, that she’s still pretty useless in a fight against this thing. What she can’t explain to her though, is that it’s not her insisting she be here. This isn’t her rebelling against Brooke’s heroic streak, or worrying she would lose her. Their daughter was compelling her to come along. She could no more resist that compulsion than she could resist the demon’s manipulations before. 

Reaching a doorway, Alex can hear the sounds of fighting. Exchanging looks, they nod at each other and dart through it simultaneously. A smell like rotting corpses makes her gag as they enter a cavernous room, where a frightening tableau greets them. She can see Barry and Kara both attacking Hank without respite. Hank had dropped his human guise and seemed to be doing his best to teleport out of their way, unfortunately their superspeed meant they were managing to hit him more times than he could dodge. He might have been able to manage either of them alone, but as strong as he was, Alex wasn’t sure how long he could hold out against them both. Just as she was wondering why the hell he didn’t try and escape completely, she saw a man that must be Westfield, and a monstrous apparition even Alex’s worst nightmares couldn’t dream up, watching them gleefully. She realised the demon wasn’t letting Hank leave, pitting them against each other relentlessly until they were all dead or dying. Glancing to her left, Alex sees Brooke give her one last look, full of sorrow, before her wings burst out of her back and she sprints towards the demon. 

Alex runs up behind Westfield, trying to catch him off guard. He must have excellent reflexes as he turns at the last minute and catches her baton on his arm rather than the back of his head, where she’d been aiming. Scuffling with him, it takes Alex a few agonising minutes and a painful punch to her kidney before she succeeds in knocking him out. Pulling her gun out again, she futilely tries to shoot at Barry’s legs, knowing her bullets won’t affect her sister. From her left, she can hear Brooke and the demon charging each other, loud cracks and deep thuds reverberating around the room. When the sounds cease suddenly, she looks away from her sister for a second to see what’s happening, and her heart feels like it stops. 

Brooke’s lying under the demon, with what passes for its forehands wrapped around her throat, the demon leering triumphantly at her. Alex can hear it gloating in her head, can hear it using Brooke’s fears over their earlier argument to needle at her, thrusting self-doubt into the cracks in her psyche and levering them wide open, weakening her. Horrified, Alex drops her useless gun and runs towards her lover.

 

Brooke can feel her sight dimming, black spots dancing at the edges of her vision. She had tried to loosen its claws, but now she lets her hands drop to her sides. What was the point? Surely a heroic death now was better than disappointing everyone in the future? She had never deserved Alex in the first place anyway, and to think she could raise a child without screwing it up was a joke… 

Air pours into her abused throat as the claws suddenly release her. Opening her eyes, she realises the demon is no longer hovering over her. She rolls her head over, feeling like she’s underwater still, and looks to her side. Alex is standing there, panting, her baton in her hand, glowing. In fact, Brooke thinks sluggishly, all of her is glowing. 

Alex sinks to knees beside her, holding onto her with everything she’s got. Brooke’s mind clears enough for her to realise Alex just saved her life and she clasps her back just as fiercely, cursing herself for letting the demon exploit her vulnerabilities like that. Never again, she swears to herself, breathing in her partner’s scent and basking in the love she feels flowing through their connection.

Kara settles next to them, touching them, grasping at them as if to reassure herself they were still whole, still alive, “I’m so sorry! I couldn’t do anything. It took over our minds as soon as we realised it was there,”

Hank lands next to them, looking battered but alive, “Where’s John and Zed?”

“I had to knock them out, they’re still upstairs. Where’s the demon?”

Barry steps up to them, looking shaken, an unconscious Westfield over his shoulder, “The demon’s gone. It looks like it took the totem as well,” he adds grimly.

Kara leans down and offers her hands to Alex to help her up, Hank does the same for Brooke. As Alex goes to speak, her face contorts in pain and she bends over double, crying out. Immediately, Brooke is by her side, holding her up, “Alex? What is it? Is it the baby?”

Looking up, Alex’s face is a picture of terror, “Oh god, Brooke… My waters just broke…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, the fairies need you!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is a very baby-centric chapter :-O
> 
> I haven't got children myself, but I do remember what it feels like to hold a newborn, like I did with my first nephew, who's now 12, and my best friends baby boy who was born two months ago. Both times, I fell in love with them as soon as they were placed in my arms. This chapter is my way of getting to fall in love with a baby girl for once ;)
> 
>  
> 
> R x

Brooke stares at Alex, waiting for reality to kick back in. Kara and Hank are equally immobile, all standing round Alex in silence, as if waiting for the punchline. Realising Brooke was incapacitated with panic, Alex shakes her as hard as she can, yelling at her to do something. Brooke blinks and motion returns to her features. Swallowing hard, she looks at Kara and Barry.

“Please, one of you, I’m not fast enough…”

Kara snaps out of her stupor and quickly stands behind her sister, nodding soberly at Brooke, knowing how much it must be killing her to let someone else help Alex right now. 

“No,” Alex gasps, clutching at her belly again even as she grabs at Brooke’s hand. 

Brooke looks crestfallen as she moves in to hug Alex, cupping her tear stained face and kissing her gently on the lips. Smiling through her own tears she reassures her lover, “I’ll be right behind you, I promise, but I need you to be with Eliza and be safe as soon as possible. Let Kara get you there quickly for me, ok?”

As soon as Alex agrees, Kara sweeps her up into her arms. Alex takes one last look at Brooke, wishing she hadn’t when she sees the toil it takes on her to move out of their way and let Alex go. Digging her fingers into Kara’s shoulders when she feels another agonising contraction right on the heels of the last one, she knows they’re out of time. Burying her face in her sisters neck she cries out for them to go, not daring to look at Brooke again.

Brooke watches Kara fly away with her world, biting down hard on her lip. 

“Go, be with Alex, we got this.” Hank says kindly, nudging her towards the exit.

“But, the demon? And the agents, and John and Zed… we need to…”

Barry pushes her more forcefully, rolling his eyes, “All of whom would tell you to go and see your daughter being born, right now!”

Brooke stays still for one more second, before a huge grin takes over her face and her wings re-emerge. She’s already running for the exit as she yells, “My daughter’s being born!”

Brooke reaches the shaft and crouches down. Raising her wings high, she sweeps them down once - as hard and fast as she can - propelling herself high into the shaft to save time. Scrambling to climb the rest of the rungs, she hears a voice call out from above, asking who was there. 

Recognising Zed’s voice, she lets her know who it is to avoid getting shot, which would massively inconvenience her right now, “Zed? It’s me, Brooke. Alex is in labour, I gotta go…”

“Oh, was that Kara with her that just flew out of here? It was so fast, I just had an impression of a blue and red blur…”

Brooke reaches the lip of the shaft and Zed reaches down to help her out. Placing a hand under her arm, Zed gasps as she gets a flash of what had happened down there. Brooke grins when Zed mouths Alex’s name, an incredulous expression on her face, “Yeah. She beat the demon off me, it was amazing! I swear to God she was glowing! But then, she went into labour,” taking a moment to breathe, Brooke’s feelings finally catch up with reality and her mouth drops open, “Shit. She’s in labour… Zed, I’m about to be a Mom!”

Laughing, Zed pats her clothes down, slapping the dust and debris away as John comes in to the utility room, rubbing the back of his head, “Well I guess you’d better fly off then, eh love? Oh, and you’d better be on your guard, I’ll bet she’ll blame you once the pain gets bad. Maybe she’ll pay you back for this whack to my noggin, hmm?”

“Yeah, sorry about that…” Brooke starts to explain only to be silenced by Zed and pushed towards the open front door.

“Ignore him, he’s just embarrassed that he was as helpless as the rest of us. Go, be with your woman. Send her our love.”

 

**********

 

Three hours later, Brooke was wondering why they’d bothered to rush. Using a damp, cool cloth to soothe Alex’s sweaty brow she winces in unison with her as another contraction rips through body, Brooke’s enhanced sight allowing her to see it ripple across her huge swollen abdomen. Eliza moves in to reassure her daughter again. Thank God Eliza was made of sterner stuff, thought Brooke; Jeremiah, Kara and Hank had all been chased from the med bay hours ago by Alex’s acerbic tongue. Brooke thinks she has even learnt a few new swear words that she’s made a mental note of. As the contraction peeks, Alex’s grip on Brooke’s hand increases exponentially. Had Brooke been fully human she may have been at risk of dislocated or sprained fingers, as it was, she winced even harder as they were crushed again, preparing herself for the tirade that normally followed.

“Jesus mother fucking hell!” Alex screams as she leans into the pain. Alex appeared oblivious to the fact that she was shouting obscenities in front of her mother, although Brooke seemed to be blushing enough for the both of them, especially when Alex glares at her and adds, “We are _never_ having sex again!”

Brooke can’t even look Eliza in the eyes let alone defend herself. Her mortification only grows when she hears Eliza chuckle and quip, “To be fair honey, it wasn’t sex with Brooke that got you into this predicament in the first place now, was it?” Groaning, Brooke closes her eyes and resigns herself to hours more torture at the hands of her partner and mother-in-law, reminding herself it would be worth it to meet their baby.

By the time the baby was crowning, sweat was dripping down Brookes back as well. Her heart rate felt like it had tripled and she wasn’t even the one doing any of the work. As the baby’s appearance grew closer and closer, so too did Brooke’s dread of not being good enough. Trying to focus on her partner and be supportive, her mind kept wandering to her crappy upbringing. What did she know of taking care of a child? It was one thing to provide for a family financially, materialistically. No problems there. But, that was just a small part of it. Being half of parenting team, responsible for helping a child grow into a loving, caring, empathetic, well-adjusted human seemed so far from Brooke’s comfort zone, that she actually started feeling light headed. 

Everything seemed like it was happening in slow motion, at a distance. She sees Eliza’s face light up, her hands holding a red, screaming bundle as she moves to the table set up for cleaning the baby. She sees Alex staring at her mother and the baby, her eyes wide, an anxious smile hovering over her lips. She sees a look of such uncomplicated joy on Alex’s face when Eliza hands her the baby, she forgets how to breath for a second. When she gulps air back into her lungs, sensation rushes back in, and with it the realisation that the tiny bundle in Alex’s arms, with a shock of dark hair and beautiful grey-blue marbled eyes, is theirs. They made her. They made this tiny, amazing, perfect human-being. 

As soon as Alex places the baby in her arms, Brooke’s lost. Unable to tear her eyes away from the unfocused gaze of this precious new-born, Brooke ignores the tears running down her face. She feels tethered, willingly. Moving towards the bed, she cups the baby in her left arm freeing her right hand to hold Alex’s hand. Finally managing to look away from her daughter for the first time since she held her, Brooke meets Alex’s eyes. Lifting her hand to place a kiss in her palm, she whispers, “You’re amazing.”

Laughing and crying at the same time, Alex wipes her tears with her other hand, “Well, we made her together, so really we’re both amazing.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember having to push her out though,” Brooke laughs.

“True, although I think you paid the price in other ways,” Alex retorts, her eyes shining with mirth as she lifts Brooke’s poor abused hand and kisses each finger.

Watching Brooke with their baby girl seems to flood her body with feel good hormones. She may be exhausted, and sore in places she doesn’t even want to think about, but it was all worth it. Seeing her Mom incline her head towards the door, she nods for her to go and give the good news to everyone, conveniently giving her and Brooke five minutes alone together before the circus starts. Tugging on Brooke’s waist, she gets the hint and levers herself onto the bed next to Alex, both wanting a moment to re-connect after the battle and the shock of this premature birth. Their little one has different priorities though and she starts to grizzle, making rooting motions against Alex as soon as they get settled. Chuckling at the realisation that their life now revolved around the baby’s needs for a while, Brooke helps Alex settle on her side so the baby could latch on. Once the silence was restored, except for the sound of their baby suckling, they take a moment to just stare at each other. Alex is the one to eventually break the silence, mindful of the fact that their family might walk in at any moment.

“Brooke? What should we call her?”

Looking down at their daughter, running a single fingertip delicately across her tiny plum cheek, Brooke smiles blissfully, “What did you want to call her.”

Shaking her head, Alex presses for an answer, “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have this gorgeous little girl who’s a part of both of us, so you choose. Please?”

Smiling, Brooke leans down to first kiss their baby softly on her forehead, breathing her incredible scent in for a second, then moving in to kiss Alex tenderly. As she goes to open her mouth to name her, the door opens and a clatter of footsteps and excited voices can be heard. Winking, Brooke mouths ‘trust me? To which Alex immediately nods, smiling herself as Brooke helps make her presentable and sit up to show off their new-born to everyone.

“Everyone,” Brooke starts, beaming proudly, “meet the newest member of our family; Alara Jemima Danvers.”

 

**********

 

The checks and measures had been done and the baby had been pronounced fit and healthy, despite her premature arrival. Alex was near enough healed from the birth, thanks to Brooke’s legacy from when she saved her life, and permission had been granted for the proud new parents to take their daughter home. Alex sighed, wishing they could have some time to themselves as a new family unit, well aware they would have an awed entourage accompanying them to get them settled in. Everyone had been looking at the baby like she was a miracle, and that had only gotten more pronounced when Brooke had explained her baby name choices; ‘Alara’ for Alex and Kara as well as Kara’s parents, ‘Jemima’ for Alex’s parents and J’onn. Alex and Kara had been in floods of tears, as was Eliza; Jeremiah and Hank hadn’t been immune to the emotional impact either, although they had been subtler about it. 

It hadn’t escaped Alex’s notice that all the names Brooke had chosen, and even the surname, were linked to her side of the family, not Brooke’s. Unable to get a moments peace yet, Alex would definitely be talking to Brooke about that at some point. Although, considering the way Kara and Winn had sped off excitedly, she felt it might be too late to change anything, she was sure clothes were in the middle of being updated with the baby’s name already. Maybe they could add another middle name though, she mused.

Gratefully entering her apartment, Alex smiled up at Brooke as she solicitously settled her on the sofa with Alara while she got busy checking everyone had a drink and was comfortable. Alex felt blessed as she watched everyone sink onto chairs or the floor around her. A feeling of overwhelming happiness threatened to spill out of her in hysterical giggles. She could see Kara bouncing with excitement on the floor next to Winn. There was a bag between them and Kara was staring hopefully at Brooke’s back while she pottered around in the kitchen, as if willing her to go faster. Smirking to herself, Alex whispered under her breath, “There better not be anything rude written on those baby clothes!”

Kara’s head whips round, a guilty expression on her face that morphs into a chuckle when she sees Alex laughing at her. Shuffling closer to the sofa on her knees, she puts her finger out, letting Alara clutch at it wildly. Smiling widely, she looks up at her sister, awe showing in her face again, “She’s so beautiful Alex…”

“I know, right?” Alex agrees proudly, squeezing Alara to her for the umpteenth time, unable to get enough of her warm weight and presence already.

When Brooke settles on the arm of the sofa behind her, Alex moves forward slightly, sighing in contentment when Brooke takes the hint and slides in behind her. Leaning back against her, Alex couldn’t be happier when she feels Brookes arms circle both her and Alara. Looking back over her shoulder, she shares a loving look and kiss with Brooke before turning back to Kara and Winn.

“Come on then, show us what you made her before you both explode.”

Everyone leans forward, swept up in their enthusiastic excitement. Bringing out a few special baby-grows first, the room soon rang with laughter. The first one read **‘I want my _other_ Mother!’** across the chest, the next one stated, **‘Momma’s little Angel, for reals!’**. There was chocolate scented stretch cream, that was jokingly relabelled ‘Brooke’s penance’; Brooke pocketed that one with a grin, despite Alex having no stretch marks thanks to her healing abilities. Seeing Brooke’s lascivious wink, Alex hurried them on to the next present before Brooke got her back for embarrassing her so much during the birth. Then came the presents that reduced Alex to a teary, happy mess; the baby-grows that stated her name in stars, the fabric paint still tacky to the touch, the one that read **‘My parents are angels, so they were blessed with me’** had more than just her and Brooke in tears, the baby’s first books that already had pictures of Alara and her parents tucked into them with freshly printed cute captions. Alex was planning on replacing the photos with her in them as soon as possible though, seeing as how they were taken literally minutes after she pushed something the size of a watermelon through something the size of a lemon. She wasn’t looking her best in them, to say the least. 

Alara stayed awake and alert for a couple of hours. As she flagged, her eyes closing and then startling open before drooping shut again, Alex felt herself yawning in sympathy. Brooke stood and started tidying the room, gently hinting to the others that they needed rest. Once everyone had gone, Brooke just strutted over and swept the pair of them up, carrying them to the bedroom, ignoring Alex’s squeak of protest. Lowering Alex to the bed, she fetched the Moses basket and placed it next to them, bustling around to gather everything they needed for the night ahead. 

Watching Alex give Alara her last feed before they all tried to get some sleep, Brooke brushes Alex’s hair behind her ear, staring at her intensely.

“Thank you.” Alex can hear the reverence and sincerity in Brooke’s voice, but she isn’t sure what she’s thanking her for, raising her eyebrows in question.

“Thank you for choosing me, for believing in me when I couldn’t. I love you both so much Alex. I’m never going to stop wanting to protect you. Both of you. You are the most precious things in my life. You’re both so beautiful it hurts to look at you sometimes. I know our issues didn’t happen overnight, and they won’t go away any time soon. But, we have to promise each other to try better not to trigger each other or be triggered. To understand where each of us is coming from and to be patient. Because I never want to be without either of you, ever again.”

“Agreed,” Alex whispers, leaning in to kiss her partner soundly, “I love you Brooke.”

“I love you too.”

They both try and sleep as soon as they put Alara down in the basket next to them, knowing it wouldn’t be long before she woke them, hungry again. By the time the third feed of the night had finished, Alex was exhausted. Taking Alara out of her arms, Brooke soothes her back to sleep by stroking her back whilst bouncing Alara on her shoulder to wind her. Once she can hear Alex is slumbering peacefully again, she changes Alara’s nappy and sits in the rocking chair she’d put in the corner of the bedroom for just this purpose. Humming nonsense tunes to her daughter, she rocks back and forth gently, watching Alara’s eyes. She swears babies shouldn’t be able to focus that well yet. As she’s making a note to look it up in their baby book, Alara seems to reach up to touch her chin with a purpose that a new-born also shouldn’t possess. 

When Alara’s hand connects with her skin, Brooke stops rocking, her mouth falling open in shock as her mind is filled with a vivid vision and feelings. As the scene in her head fades, she stares down at her daughter, who seems to be completely unaffected by the earth-shattering revelation that has just rendered her mother mute. When Alara touched her, Brooke had seen herself in the sky, as if she was looking up at herself through her daughter’s eyes, flying high in the air fighting the demon. Then, Brooke had felt a tremendous rush of love and confidence projected from where she was, inside her daughter, upwards towards herself, and she had changed; morphing in mid-air into a majestic beast that crushed the demon like it was paper. 

A damp spot appears on the blanket next to her daughter’s head. Brooke frowns before she realises it was her own tear, sliding off her chin. Letting out a single, strangled sob, she gathers Alara closer, her heart swelling with love for this special child she’d helped create. A child that had just shown her that she would prevail, that they would be safe. 

Brooke sat there for hours, just holding their precious baby in her arms, and watching the love of her life sleep a few feet away. For the first time in her life, Brooke dared to dream of a future. She dared to dream she could be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked, let me know what you think ;)
> 
> R x
> 
> p.s. Wasn't sure about the middle name, but Eliza, Jeremiah and J'onn are very hard to smoosh together! :-/


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may seem tame at first, but don't be lulled into a false sense of security, the ending is definitely not suitable for reading at work ;)
> 
> R x

Alex felt the warmth of the sun on her face, stirring her from slumber. Groggily rubbing her eyes, she realises something feels different. Her hands shoot to her abdomen as her eyes snap open. Alara. Sitting up rapidly, her heart starts to beat faster when she sees the Moses basket is empty. Swinging her legs out of the bed, she comes to a screeching halt, a smile spreading across her face. Brooke is slumped in the rocking chair, long legs stretched out in front of her, crossed at the ankles. Alara is laying on her chest, snuggled in under her chin with one of Brookes arms wrapped around her and the other hand resting gently on her back. Looking around for her mobile, Alex tiptoes over and centres them in the viewer on her camera phone; definitely one for the album, she smirks. Gathering some clothes, Alex pauses in the doorway, taking one more heart-warming look at her girls before heading for a long soak in the bath while she can.

Putting the coffee on, Alex hears some disgruntled whimpers from Alara, then Brooke’s lower tones murmuring in return. A few minutes later all is quiet again and she hears Brooke pad to the bathroom. Taking Brooke’s extra-large cup down from the cupboard, she pours another cup. 

“Hi,” greets Brooke, grinning as she joins her in the kitchen. Her eyes light up as she spots her cup waiting for her. Dropping a kiss on Alex’s head, she plonks down next to her and swings an arm around her.

“Hi yourself. Alara still settled?”

“Yeah, she dropped off again, after I changed the nappy from hell!” Brooke’s face screws up in remembered disgust, prompting Alex to giggle at her.

“They’ll be a lot more where that came from in the future, so you better get used to it.”

“It’s not as bad for you, you don’t have my heightened sense of smell! I swear to God, that one made my eyes water!” Brooke complains.

Still laughing Alex picks up her mobile when it beeps. Opening the message, she smiles and passes it to Brooke. Looking down, she sees a message from Hank telling them to spend the day with Alara. Alex is confused when instead of being pleased, Brooke starts frowning.

“Don’t you want to spend the day with your daughter?” she asks with a frosty tone.

“What?” Brooke looks up, confused, “Of course I do. But it sounds like he expects you back soon…”

“Yes? And?”

Now Brooke was frowning at her, “I kinda assumed you’d be taking a lot longer than a day off…” 

Placing her coffee down, Alex crosses her arms on the counter, staring at her partner. Alex’s irritation shows in her voice when she snaps out, “Why, will you?”

Mimicking her pose, Brooke’s face darkens, “Well I would, but she might get a bit hungry seeing as how my breasts aren’t producing any milk!”

“You should be grateful for that, you have no idea how it feels!”

“You’re right, I don’t, because it's been so long I’ve forgotten what they feel like!”

“And it’ll be months before you get a chance to remember again at this rate!” 

Both of them were standing, breathing heavily and glaring at each other, when they hear the sound of Alara crying.

“Now look what you did!” Alex shouts, looking down at her t-shirt where two damp circles are appearing in the centre of each breast.

“What I did? I think you’ll find it was your shouting that woke the baby!” Brooke yells at Alex’s back as she storms off to the bedroom.

Brooke slams around in the kitchen for a few minutes, noting when Alara’s cries quieten, indicating she was happily suckling. As soon as she does, Brooke stops banging around and stares into space for a minute. Shaking her head, she chuckles under her breath before throwing the dish cloth down and making her way to the bedroom. Pausing at the door, she cautiously pushes it open, peeking her head around the frame. Alex is lying on the bed, Alara happily latched on and guzzling while Alex gazes down at her affectionately, smoothing back her delicate hair. Sighing, Brooke creeps over and lays down behind Alex, her arm wrapping about her waist even though Alex stiffens slightly in her embrace.

“Sweetheart, what are you feeling now?”

Alex looks over her shoulder to find Brooke smiling knowingly at her, “What do you mean?”

“Close your eyes and tell me exactly what you’re feeling, without thinking about how you _should_ be feeling after an argument.”

Confused but willing to play along, Alex closes her eyes, only for them to fly open again. Gasping, she looks down at their daughter, “Oh, no…we were so pissed off… that was all her? Because she was hungry?”

Giggling, Brooke nuzzles the back of Alex’s neck, “Oh yeah! Looks like she can project what she’s feeling, even without touch. We are in for one hell of a ride sweetheart.”

Sighing and leaning back into her partner, Alex thinks about what they had just yelled at each other, and the truth that lay behind the words even without their daughter’s interference, “We do still need to figure out how we’ll manage work, child care, feedings and so on. We thought we’d have another four months to figure this stuff out. I definitely don’t want to be left behind at home all the time. I mean, I know that this little one needs looking after, I’m not planning on being negligent. I just… I want it to be a partnership.”

“I know. I just know I’m going to be overprotective though,” Brooke sighs, kissing Alex’s temple gently, “How can we compromise so both of us are happy”

“We could see Hank tomorrow and ask for a few days, if he can, so we can get into a routine. We can also see if there’s something we can put in place so she can come to the DEO with us and one of us can always be there with her, it’s probably one of the safest places in the city.”

“True.”

Alara starts fussing, having finished and now feeling uncomfortable on her back. Alex passes her to Brooke for her to wind while she sorts herself out. Thinking ahead, she adds, “I can express milk and we can take turns being on baby duty maybe?”

“Is that a good idea?” Brooke asks worriedly.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I just worry we’ll never get time together again,” Brooke admits, chuckling ruefully. 

“Brooke, we have about ten babysitters lined up and waiting whenever we want them.” Alex points out.

“True,” Brooke says again, laughing as she lays Alara in the Moses basket. Jumping back on the bed, she wraps Alex up in her arms, both enjoying the closeness and peace for a moment.

“Alex?”

“Hmmm?”

“Did you mean it about your boobs?”

 

**********

 

The next day, they take Alara into the DEO with them. The afternoon before, Brooke had bought a breast pump and Alex had managed to express two feeds worth this morning, cursing the whole time about how incredibly uncomfortable it was. Brooke was starting to think about potentially putting Alara on a mixture of breast milk and formula, to save Alex having to go through that regularly or having to be with her for every feed. She wasn’t too sure how Alex would take it though and after being on the receiving end of this morning’s little rant, Brooke thought it would be a good idea to hold fire on sharing that idea for a while. 

Eliza and Jeremiah swoop on their grandchild as soon as they spot the threesome. Alex reluctantly lets go of Alara as her Mom plucks her out of her arms, cooing and aahing over her, Jeremiah beaming over her shoulder and playing peek-a-boo. Brooke chuckles at Alex’s possessiveness and deliberately drags her up the stairs to give her parents time with Alara without Alex hovering over them. Standing side by side on the upper level walkway, Alex watches her parents with their baby while Brooke watches Alex. 

“Alex, the night we bought Alara home…”

Alex finally looks away from their daughter, a quizzical expression on her face, “What about it?”

“When you feel asleep after that last feed? She projected on me.”

They had yet to tell anyone else that she could project her emotions from a distance, which would honestly amuse Alex no end if Alara got hungry while she was with her parents. But, she sensed that Brooke was hinting at something beyond that. Turning to face her fully, she wraps her arms around Brooke’s waist, showing her she had her full attention.

“Alex, she touched my face and I saw a vision. Of us, all three of us, outside. I was in the sky with the demon. In the vision, I felt her project on me while I was fighting it and I… I transformed into something powerful enough to defeat it easily.”

“What are you saying? That she felt your fear about the demon and tried to make you feel better? Brooke, she’s not even two days old yet!”

“I know, but Alex, it felt so powerful. I’m not sure she was just trying to soothe me…” Alex stares at Brooke, understanding what she was hinting at but totally unwilling to accept it. Brooke continues, “I want to talk to John and Zed about it. I want Zed to hold her and…”

“And what Brooke? See if she can get a psychic zap off our daughter? She’s not some damn circus freak!”

Brooke just looks at her, imploring her with her expression to listen. Alex closes her eyes and takes a deep, centring breath. Her possessiveness was off the charts since Alara was born, it was hard to rein in her protective instincts regarding either of her two loves right now. Leaning into Brooke, Alex buries her face in her neck, trying to think it through rationally. If their daughter had powers, they needed to be aware of them, even if it was just sensitivity to the emotions of those around her. If it was something more, like clairvoyance, then she guessed they needed to know to be prepared to deal with that as well. Sighing she nods without lifting her head. In response, Brooke just squeezes her tighter. Through their bond, Alex could feel her relief and her misgivings. Knowing that Brooke was as reticent as she was helped her gather her resolve. Pulling away, she held Brooke’s face, kissing her quickly.

“Let’s go and talk to her now then, before I change my mind!”

 

Zed listens carefully as Brooke describes the vision Alara prompted in her. She feels pressured to give them answers with both of them staring anxiously at her, but the truth is she has no idea what to tell them. Neither she nor John had ever met someone like Brooke before. All their research had kept coming back to her being half angel - a Nephilim - and all the data about that was unsupported and guess work at best, let alone what that meant for any offspring. There just wasn’t any previous evidence to go on to start hypothesising what their daughter might be capable of. Looking at John for guidance, she rolls her eyes at him when all he gives her is a shrug.

“Brooke, I honestly don’t know whether it’s just projection or some kind of presentiment, the best I can offer is to touch her and try to see for myself what she showed you.”

Sharing a look, Brooke waits for Alex to nod hesitantly before agreeing. They all troop over to the labs where Kara and Lena are playing with Alara, Eliza looking on proudly. Brooke explains what Alara had done and everyone, including Hank and Jeremiah, gathers around.

Nervously, feeling under pressure with so many people watching, Zed walks over to Alara where she’s being held in Kara’s arms. Pausing, she looks up into worried blue eyes as Kara shifts the baby slightly to give Zed access, not wanting to relinquish her hold on her completely. Zed takes a few breaths to centre herself, trying to block out the psychic emanations of everything around her. Looking down into Alara’s eyes, she immediately recognises what her Grandmother would call an ‘old soul’. There’s no doubt in her mind that this child is special. Raising her hand, she cups Alara’s cheek gently, eager to find out just how special.

Brooke and Alex watch closely, barely able to keep themselves from crowding them. When Zed tenses after touching Alara’s cheek, Brooke stares fiercely at her back, head cocked in the way Alex recognises as her ‘listening’ to emotions pose. Moving closer to Brooke she holds onto her arm, her gaze switching between her daughter and her partner. A few minutes later Zed opens her eyes and smiles down at Alara, stroking her cheek gently. Alex feels Brooke relax and follows suit. Turning around, Zed beams at them both.

“She is amazing!”

Both Brooke and Alex, as well as everyone else, can’t help automatically smiling in response to the awe and reverence in Zed’s tone, Kara cupping Alara’s head closer to her chest.

Brooke’s eyes still show her anxiety and she presses for more, “But, what did she see?”

Zed’s eyes shine as she approaches Brooke with the same awe in her face that she had when she spoke of Alara. Alex is still pressed to Brooke’s side and can’t help feeling slightly uncomfortable when Zed stands right in front of Brooke, reaching up to cup her cheeks. Alex’s discomfort turns to amazement when she sees a tear spill over Zed’s cheek, her wide smile indicating it was joy, not sorrow, that prompted it. 

“She is clairvoyant, and she sees you. The real you. Oh Brooke, how magnificent you are going to be!”

Shocked, Brooke steps backwards sharply, accidently pulling Alex with her, “What are you saying? That she saw the future? Zed, it can’t be… I can’t transform into an animal!”

“A what?” Kara exclaims.

Running her hands through her hair, exasperated with Zed’s answer, Brooke huffs out, “That’s what Alara saw! I was fighting the demon and losing, then she sends me all this power, it feels like a massive dose of love to be honest,” hesitating Brooke looks at Zed who nods in agreement, still smiling, “then I… I transform into an animal and squash the demon like paper.” Brooke finishes self-consciously, shrugging. 

Alex looks both hopeful and disgruntled at same time, “Where did she get these powers? Brooke doesn’t have future sight, or the power to project as strongly as Alara does, and how can Brooke shape shift? She never has before…”

“She’s special.” Lena whispers, captured in Alara’s gaze, smiling down at the baby while Kara rocks her gently, Eliza standing the other side and cooing at her.

Hank comes over, resting his hand gently on Alara’s forehead, “She is special,” he agrees, looking at Brooke and Alex, “She’s a combination of the best of both of you.”

Alex looks at how everyone seems to gravitate towards their daughter. Like she was a magnet. Feeling the weight of Brooke’s gaze, she turns to her, seeing in her eyes such tremendous hope she can’t help but give in to the sentiment of optimism permeating the room. Leaning into Brooke’s embrace, she closes her eyes and wishes fiercely they’d all be proved right. That Brooke would beat the demon, and they would all be safe.

 

**********

 

Alex stands in the shower, sponging off the sweat from her work out. Damn that felt good. After weeks of feeling like she’d been carrying around a bowling ball in front of her and waddling like a duck, being able to train felt wonderful. It had felt good to get her hands on Brooke as well, to be honest, even if in an exercise only fashion. Although, she’d be lying if she didn’t wish like hell Brooke was there in the shower with her right now. Unfortunately, she was practicing mid-air turns with Kara, something Alex couldn’t help her with. Her Mum and Dad were babysitting Alara for them. She wondered if she and Brooke could sneak off for half an hour quickly, before they took her back off them. Feeling guilty for even thinking about bailing on her two-day old baby for longer, Alex tried valiantly to ignore the tingling in her clit and just finish getting clean. 

Feeling someone behind her, she’s about to yell and lash out when she recognises the presence, “You nearly got an elbow to the face then…” she gasps, as a pair of lips attach themselves to her neck. She can feel frantic movement behind her as Brooke sheds her clothes, eager to feel skin against skin.

“Not my fault you projected your need rather urgently,” Brooke retorts, her words muffled against Alex’s skin. 

Finally naked, Brooke presses her whole body against Alex, both of them sighing in pleasure at the sensation. Brooke grasps Alex’s wrists, pushing her hands flat against the wall in front of them, “Stay,” she whispers, a smile in her voice. Alex grins as well, spreading her legs slightly, butterflies already building in her stomach. The thought that anyone could walk in and catch them amplifies every touch as Brooke’s hands start wandering up and down her body. 

After tortuous minutes, Brooke finally reaches in front of her and puts her fingers where Alex needs them most, dipping down between her legs and sliding inside her. Biting on her lip to try and supress her moans, Alex removes one of her hands from the wall, reaching behind her, desperate to feel Brooke as well. For a moment, she thinks Brooke will pull away because she moved without permission. Thankfully, Brooke is too far gone and just helps Alex by bearing down on her hand as soon as her fingertips slide inside her wet heat. Turning her head to look back over her shoulder, Alex lets out a moan of pleasure as Brooke leans in and captures her mouth passionately, her tongue mimicking the actions of her fingers. Gasping out her name, Alex’s hips move faster and faster, feeling Brooke’s hips gain speed in sync with her. Brooke falls forwards slightly, her free arm reaching over Alex’s shoulder to hold her up as her legs start to give way. When Brooke tears her mouth away and says her name desperately, clenching down on Alex’s fingers, she feels her own sex pulse in rhythm with her lovers and she cries out as they both sink to their knees.

Catching their breath, they hear footsteps then a muffled, “Oh for Rao’s sake,” as well as a speedy exit.

“How many times does that make now?” Alex asks.

“Er, I think that’s the fifth time she’s caught us. We’re going to have to get that girl a bell!” 

A door bangs open again and they hear a testy “I heard that…” before they slump against the shower wall, giggling hysterically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I think we're nearly at the end peeps! :-O
> 
> One more chapter I reckon... *sad face*
> 
> R x


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it peeps, the last chapter in the Alex and Brooke saga! See you at the end :-O
> 
> R x

Kara and Alex were at the edge of the duck pond, Kara pointing out all the different types of birds to her six-month-old niece. Brooke sat with Lena on a bench nearby, laughing at Kara’s attempts to get Alara to feed the ducks. Every time Kara managed to get Alara to actually hold onto a piece of bread, she promptly put it straight in her mouth, smacking her lips in great appreciation and looking at her aunt quizzically when she groaned in frustration. 

“Like mother, like daughter,” Alex snorts, prompting Brooke to poke her tongue out at her and wink. 

Hearing Lena sigh quietly, Brooke turns to her, eyebrow raised. Lena just shakes her head, her throat tightening. Maintaining a strained smile, Lena looks rigidly ahead at Kara and Alex, blinking rapidly to try and stave off the unseemly emotions that threaten to overwhelm her. Feeling a hand slide over hers on the bench and squeeze tightly, she curses Brooke’s empathy, knowing she couldn’t deny how much this moment meant to her. A moment with her family. A family that chose each other, a family that loves each other unconditionally, a family that continues to choose each other, every day. A noise of gratitude escapes her without consent and she curses softly under her breath as she sees Kara’s head shoot up as she makes eye contact with her. Three seconds later, a bit too fast for human speed, Kara is next to her on the bench, cupping her face and begging her with those beautiful blue eyes to tell her what’s wrong. 

“You can relax your super senses, Little Miss Overprotective,” Brooke chuckles, “she’s just happy…”

Lena glares at Brooke while Kara huffs at her, rolling her eyes. Still giggling, Brooke peels herself off the bench and strolls towards her partner and baby girl; determined to get Alara to feed the ducks to one up Kara as well as give the two love-birds some privacy.

“What’s that about?” Alex asks, nodding towards where her sister was curled up on the bench with Lena in her arms; their heads bent together, whispering in each other’s ears.

“Sweet nothings, I would guess,” Brooke deflects, not willing to breach Lena’s privacy any more than she already inadvertently had. 

Alex smiles as Brooke squats down next to their daughter and starts trying to teach her to feed the ducks, with about as much success as her sister. It had taken weeks after Alara’s birth, and the Demons escape, for Brooke to actually go outside with them as a family. Alex had reached the end of her tether with Brooke refusing to accompany them anywhere, leaving her with her sister or her Mum and Dad most of the time, only willing to be around both Alex and Alara if they were at home, or at the DEO. After three weeks, the tension between them had been threatening to rip them apart anyway. It had been John and Zed who finally got through to her, just before they, along with Barry and Cisco, returned to their own universe. Brooke had come to her after they’d left, red eyed and apologetic, and fallen into her arms.

Slowly but surely, she had started coming out with them; to the coffee shop, to the Aquarium. This was their first visit to the park. Brooke seemed to be coping well with them all being outside at once. Although, after months of being together, Alex could detect the well-hidden tension that Brooke rarely displayed around her now days. When Brooke stands, Alex moves up behind her, curling her arms around her waist. Brooke’s taller frame made it a slightly awkward embrace, but Alex loved being able to offer comfort like this, and Brooke always seemed to appreciate it on the rare occasions Alex held her.

“Love you,” 

“Love you more,” Brooke answers with a smile in her voice, turning her head to receive a kiss.

Alara interrupts their soppy moment. Her cries draw their attention and they startle when they see her leaning as far out of her buggy as she can, turning to look behind her towards the bench where her Aunt is sitting. Only, she isn’t looking at the bench; Alex realises she’s looking at the sky above it. Squinting into the sun, Alex raises a hand to shield her eyes. A dark shape, above the horizon to the West, grows larger and larger as she watches, like its moving towards them at great speed.

“Oh God, no! Alex, get Alara and run!”

Kara hears Brooke’s vehement exclamation and turns to look. Her mouth drops open and she freezes for a second before she blurs. Standing in her Supergirl outfit, she grabs at Lena and starts speaking rapidly, her face as pale as chalk. Brooke has already snatched Alara from her buggy, thrusting her into Alex’s arms. 

Alex and Lena start sprinting towards the edge of the park, screaming at the civilians to run. Nobody seems to grasp the urgency of the situation and Alex can feel her heart trying to beat out of her chest, in full on panic mode, not knowing how to get herself and all these people to safety. They duck behind a statue, erected in tribute to her sister in thanks for all the help she’s given the city. Panting, Alex can’t help but think that this time, they would fail it instead. They weren’t ready. She hears Lena get her phone out and make a call. When she hears a voice on the other end, she nearly cries with relief when she hears Lena shout, “Hank, we need help at Main Avenue park, the demon’s here!”

 

Brooke reaches Kara’s side and grabs her arm, “Kara, you can’t be here when it arrives. Get everyone to safety; take care of your sister and Alara for me.”

Kara looks into Brooke’s eyes and sees stark terror there, reflecting her own. Her heart in her throat, she begs her to be strong for them, “Brooke… Please… you can do this…remember what Alara saw, you _will_ beat this thing!”

Nodding grimly, Brooke pushes Kara away from her, turning to face the setting sun and the oncoming darkness. 

 

**********

 

Brooke starts running towards the demon, her eyes tracking its rapid descent. With a ripping sound, her wings tear through the back of her shirt and unfurl fully by the time she’s taken three steps. Thrusting them towards the ground, Brooke leaps into the air, soaring upwards to meet the Demon diving down towards her, determined to meet it far enough away from the ground that she could protect the civilians, and her family, from its vile influence. Below her, at least ten SUVs pull up around the park, men and woman in black fatigues and face masks pouring out of them. Each DEO agent heads for a member of the public, tasked with removing them from the danger zone.

When the demon is less than twenty feet from her, she hears its infernal voice echo in her mind - _I devoured hundreds of innocents in your name winged freak - they added to my power - their agony became my strength - just so I could do the same to you - do you want to hear their screams of pain as they cursed you with their dying breaths?_

Brooke’s flight falters as the demon thrusts the images of it tearing its victims apart into her head. Snarling, Brooke grits her teeth as she shores up her mental defences against its horror tactics; blocking out all her emotions and locking away her feelings just in time as the demon smashes into her at full speed, pushing her halfway back to the earth before she rallies and thrusts it upwards once more. Its strength shocks her to the core, she had never fought a demon this strong before. Each blow it lands on her feels like the sky itself is being used to crush her, the pressure of the air being displaced by each hit pushing her off balance, keeping her on the defensive instead of being able to push the attack. She can feel herself giving ground and rallies desperately, over-reaching in her panic. 

 

Alex stares upwards in horror as Brooke takes blow after blow. When she sees her lunge awkwardly in an attempt to push the demon back, leaving her torso wide open to attack, she cries out a warning. Too late. The demon casually thrusts out what passes for its arms and spears Brooke’s guts with its claws. As her arms drop automatically to try and protect her abdomen, its other claw wraps around her throat. Slowly, the demon raises Brooke over it’s head, as if displaying her like a trophy to those standing below them. Helplessly, Alex drops her gaze, unable to watch any longer. Alara is still sheltered in her arms where she crouches behind the statue. Seeing her marble grey eyes looking intently into her own, Alex sobs quietly, whispering, “If you were going to send her your power, now would be a good time darling.”

As if in slow motion, Alex watches incredulously as Alara stretches one hand out, pointing at Brooke high above them, her other hand reaching out to press against her Mum’s cheek. Alex gasps even as she stands, causing Lena to cry out and try to pull her back down. Looking around at all the people in the park, she sees what Alara had shown her. Everyone still gathered in the park was watching Brooke above them, and every single face shows the same reverence and awe that Alex and Kara had shown when they first saw Brooke’s wings. Looking back at Brooke, Alex stretches her own arm out towards her in imitation of their daughter, leaving the cover of the statue and walking closer to where her lover hangs in the air above them.

 

Brooke can feel a pain in her gut like a searing fire, boring deep inside her, robbing her of strength. She feels the demon lift her higher into the air, the pressure around her throat and belly increasing until she feels like fainting. Her arms feel like they’re flailing uselessly, her whole body feels too heavy to even try and escape the punishing grip on her throat or the knife-like claws in her gut. As her other senses dim, her eyes seem to gain clarity and focus; at the angle she’s being held, she can see over the demon to the ground below. Confused, she sees lots of people walking towards the centre of the park instead of running away, all seeming to be pointing at her. Blinking sweat and blood out of her eyes, she tries to make sense of what she’s seeing. They’re all reaching up towards her, their eyes wide and shining, looking directly at her. But, not looking at her like she’s a monster, more like… like she’s their hope. Having shut down her empathy to be able to shut out the demon, Brooke desperately wants, needs, to feel some humanity one more time before she dies. Shutting her eyes, she opens herself up fully and completely, bracing herself to once again feel the demon along with the feelings of the people below her. 

At first, all she can feel is the raw horror from the demon lash across her senses and she nearly shuts down again. Within seconds, the pain is drowned out by the warmest, most comforting and uplifting feeling she’s ever encountered. It feels like pure love and hope, pouring out of the people below her, all of it being projected straight at her. There must have been hundreds of people below her and every single one was giving her all their strength and power, including two of her most precious gifts in this universe. After months of familiarity, she could pick out Alex and Alara’s emotions even amongst this multitude. Feeling their belief in her was overwhelming and Brooke sobs in gratitude even as she feels it fill every atom of her being with raw energy.

Brooke’s hands rise to grip the demon’s claws around her throat. Her eyes change, becoming pure gold, the pupils narrowing to slits. She throws her head back, pulling the claws away from her throat as her face suddenly bulges below her nose, the upper half of her face sliding backwards, her ears rising to the top of her head. Her nails lengthen and her hands widen as her clothes seem to be sucked into her skin to make way for a golden pelt that erupts everywhere. The demon howls as Brooke’s body mass doubles and her wings widen by half their span again. Brooke shakes free of the demon completely and rises above it with a single beat of her wings. Looking down, she opens her newly shaped mouth and roars her defiance at it.

 

Alex hears her partner roar and stares in awe, along with everyone else. Her partner had transformed into what looked like a huge lioness. Her wings even wider than before, she was nearly as big as the demon now, and she glowed. Every part of her was transfused with an inner light that shone like a mini sun. Hearing Alara giggle, Alex looks down only to be stunned all over again; she can see that same glow, in muted form, encompassing their daughter. A ribbon of light streams away from where her hand reaches out to her Mom, high up above her. Quickly scanning the crowd of people, all of whom are still staring at Brooke in wonder, Alex sees that same thread of golden light rising from each of them, arcing into the sky until it touches her lover. Even Kara, hovering in mid-air, her eyes wide open in shock, is feeding Brooke that same strange energy. Looking back at Brooke, Alex can’t help but cry out of love, out of joy. Each tear that falls feels like a benediction. God, Zed was right, she is magnificent. 

 

Brooke sees the demon’s fear in its black, lifeless eyes, then she feels it. It ripples across her newly sensitive form like she had developed another sense beyond the usual five. Sorrow tugs at Brooke’s heart for all the people hurt by this demon, for all the innocent that had suffered. No more. Reaching out with her own claws, she snags the demon as it turns to flee, bringing its writhing body flush with hers, as if hugging it. She could feel it trying to manipulate her, to drag her under a sea of despair again and drown her in her own regrets, but this time, it felt like it was at a great distance from her; easily ignored. She continues to curl her front and hind limbs around it, pressing it ever harder against her own form. The demon screams as the light emitting from Brooke seems to penetrate the insidious, roiling blackness that makes up its very being. Its body turns to ash and dust as Brooke squeezes, a foul sulphurous smell being released as its form shrinks and shrinks within her grasp, until nothing is left but a waft of black vapour, hanging in the air until a gust of wind dissipates even that.

Everything seems suspended in time as the crowd below processes that the demon is vanquished. Brooke hangs in the air, Alex watching her anxiously, wondering why she’s just hovering there. She seems to shimmer and from one blink to the next, Brooke’s human form has returned, to Alex’s relief. A relief that’s soon dashed when she sees Brooke’s wings suddenly retract and her body start to plummet to the ground. It takes a second for Alex to realise that her head was lolling like she was unconscious, that she had no control over her descent to the earth far below her.

“Brooke!”

 

**********

 

Alex steps over Alara’s epic train track layout; a first birthday present even though Alara now resembled a two-year-old, thanks to her most recent growth burst - which would hopefully be the last, fingers crossed. The wooden rail tracks now encompassed pretty much the whole of the command centre floor at the DEO. Rolling her eyes at Vasquez and Winn, who were helping her lay siege to the place, she presses her finger to the coms switch in her ear to speak to her sister, making a mental note to speak to Hank about how much he spoils her daughter later.

“Kara, the NCPD just updated us, there’s four hostages. Two men, a woman and her young daughter.”

“Bastards! Don’t worry Alex, I got this.” 

Alex smiles, hearing Kara speed up, the wind whistling past her as she flies towards the bank on the outskirts of the city. These robbers seemed to think if they went further out, away from the centre of the city, they might get away with it. Fat chance of that. 

“Just try and leave the bank in one piece? We don’t want another complaint about over-zealous rescues, do we?”

“That so wasn’t my fault! Anyway…have you thought any more about holding the ceremony at the park?”

Slumping onto Winn’s chair, Alex frowns at nothing, staring into space while she contemplates her sisters question, “Kara, I just don’t think I’m ready…”

“Alex, it’s been six months!”

“I know! I don’t see why it has to be there, though! Why can’t we have it in a normal place? Like a church.”

She can hear Kara sigh, even over the coms, “We’re so going to talk about this again when we’ve finished here!” she threatens, making Alex groan and swipe her hands down her face, rolling her eyes heavenwards at her sister’s stubborn streak.

Hearing a clicking sound over her earpiece, she frowns. Looking at the toy train tracks, she notes Vasquez and Winn hunched over a complicated mish-mash of pieces, trying to get a signal change to work. Alara was nowhere to be seen. As Alex hears an unsanctioned com line open, she gets up and heads behind the computers, crouching to look below each one.

“Mommy?” a small voice pipes up in her ear, “Can you bring me some donuts?”

A furious whisper responds hastily “Shssh! Sweetheart, not now! Get off the line…”

Alex hears a tiny sigh over the line. The com line clicks again, as if someone was trying to change channels.

“Aunty Kara? You’re really fast, can you maybe get me some donuts?”

Alex starts to smile, catching sight of a wire leading from one of the computers down under the desk and a tiny pair of sneakers poking out.

“Erm, little one?” Alex hears Kara respond, “You do know this is a fixed open line and we can all hear you at the same time, right?”

Alex is outright grinning as she ducks her head below the desk and comes face to face with her daughter, her mouth a round ‘O’ of surprise.

“Oops…”

Pulling Alara into her arms, Alex tries to keep a serious expression on her face when, inside, she is dying of laughter, “Hun, who taught you to use the com system to ask for treats?”

Looking for all the world like butter wouldn’t melt, Alara grins, “Mommy did!”

Alex hears a stifled inhale of air over the line. Tapping her earpiece again, she speaks to her wayward partner, “Brooke, babe?”

“Er… yes sweetheart?”

“Our commitment ceremony will be held at a church, not in the park… and you’re on grocery runs for the next fortnight as well as cooking duty.”

A heavy sigh comes across the line, ““Fine. We’re at the bank, give us five minutes to take these robbers out. Anything else, oh light of my life?” Brooke asks sarcastically. 

“Yes. I love you. Idiot.”

“Love you too.”

Alex can hear her sister and her lover laughing together, despite having been seriously busted. Holding their precocious child close to her chest, she smiles contentedly. Life couldn’t get any better than this, she decides, tapping off her com piece after saying ‘over and out’.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been just as momentous a journey for me as it has been for Alex and Brooke, they were my first fanfic story, and its been a wild ride. Thank you to everyone that has read this and will read it. Special thanks to everyone who clicked on that kudos button, knowing people liked it stopped me from giving up many times! Extra special thanks to everyone who has commented on any of my stories, it makes my day to see that inbox light up. For those that come after this, please do still comment, I promise to read it ;) 
> 
> My email and twitter are listed on my profile, so feel free to get in touch if you want, I'd love to hear from you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and eat a ton of ice cream to get over saying goodbye to this ship! :-O
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Rivvers x
> 
> Edit: 25th Feb 2018
> 
> After what can only be described as my ‘Annus Horribilis’ (yes, I so stole that from the Queen of England lol) my muse has finally returned to me thanks to a wonderful, lovely friend who never let me give up. 
> 
> So...stay tuned. Time part 3 will be hopefully be coming soon ;)
> 
> R xx


End file.
